The Dividing War: A Twokinds Fan-Story
by cj3003
Summary: Peace is a virtue that is often taken for granted in a world so filled with war, so when a peace treaty is signed between the Keidran Forest Wolf Tribes and the humans, many people were skeptical. After a decade of uneasy peace between the two factions, an unforeseen threat begins to form. (This is a collaborative book, meaning there is two authors.)
1. Chapter 1 - Drunkard's Tune

~Zander~

Rain poured relentlessly from the darkened evening sky, showering down on my back without mercy. More than ever I wished for an umbrella, as this rain would likely ruin my elegant bard outfit that I'd bought no more than a week ago. I was as nearly washed up and pathetic as the fox keidran I carried behind me.

" _Bullocks…"_ I whispered to myself as I dragged the over-intoxicated body of the fox in a small wooden cart.

" _Why do I have to be the one to carry this drunken fool off to the hospital?"_

The question rang bitterly in my head, my slim frame attempting to drag this sorry sob off to someone who might be able to help him. There was no doubt about it, this guy was clearly about to tip over the edge into a permanent comatose. He had to be well over 15 years old, and he was reaching the end of his sorry life anyhow. Why should I even be trying to save him?

I shook my head in frustration and continued onwards to the doctor's office, trying not to think too hard on my reasoning for what I was doing.

" _You're doing it because it's right, Zander,"_ I thought as I trudged forwards through massive puddles dotting the cobblestone road ahead of me.

I sighed and looked up into the thick rainclouds shifting restlessly in the blackened sky. It was indeed the right thing to do, especially after the recent civil war… We were finally at peace with the Keidran, though racism and small skirmishes still regularly occurred.

"Heh," I chuckled to myself, "Maybe this'll start a trend for my fellow humans… Showing respect for even the lowest of Keidran."

The fox stirred behind me, his sudden movements jolting the cart. I turned my head to glance back in his direction. It appeared as if he had sneezed, both a good and bad sign. It was the first time he'd shown any reaction to the outside influences, but it also meant he was at risk for getting hypothermia. I wheeled the cart under a small awning that offered some protection from the rain and set the wooden wheelbarrow down, speed walking to the fox to make sure the freezing rain hadn't finished him off for good. Looking him up and down quickly, I figured that he was the same as before; cold and drunk beyond all belief.

Seeing as we were momentarily safe from the pelting rain, I took this chance to dry off as best as I could. As I wrung out my green striped barrette, my eyes couldn't help but wander back to the disgruntled keidran. He was sprawled out carelessly on the pile of hay, his breathing shallow and uneven. He wore a red shawl around his shoulders, covering a portion of his dress length stunning white robes.

The robe itself was quite decorated, holding many different mana crystals strung carefully around the fabric. It appeared to be made of ordained silk, something I assumed that only the highest level mages would be able to afford. There were small openings at the bottom of the cloak that revealed a red under-layering of heavy fabric, likely to keep the wearer warm. I couldn't get over how many bloody crystals were on his robes.

He wore several necklaces laced with the dormant blue gems, along with almost every opening and fold in the fabric having crystals hanging down from them. His tongue flopped lazily out of his mouth, his entire body overtaken by a drunken stupor. His hair was a dirty shade of orange, pulled back into a ponytail speckled faded gray. He wore deep maroon colored leather gloves, covering the only other exposed part of his body besides his head and bare feet.

As I picked up the cart to begin the rest of the journey off to the infirmary, a heavy sigh pushed from my lips. This guy is- or at least _was_ \- someone important and powerful.

"Didn't take much for the mighty to fall, huh big guy?" I questioned at the lifeless body behind me.

I trudged along the dirty street, occasionally stopping to check on the drunken oaf. After what felt like a century of walking through the ocean spilling on us from the sky, I finally pulled up to the small infirmary at the other end of town. The rain had faded away into a cloudy sky, leaving me soaked. My heart leaped with joy when I saw the pale lights of the office streaming through the windows, signaling that I had made it just in time. I parked the cart as close to the door as possible, and began the daunting task of trying to remove the furry deadbeat from the back of it.

I tugged first at his exposed leg to try and move him off the cart, but that didn't get me very far. With a powerful grunt, I took a hold of his arms and began to pull him upright, his body moving slowly until he released a short yip of pain. I felt something… strange when I pulled on his right arm, almost like it had dislocated from his socket. Worried, I quickly rolled up his sleeve and was greeted by a grisly sight.

" _Oh God…"_ I whispered into the bitterly cold air, barely able to keep myself from vomiting.

His arm was hideously disfigured, tufts of discolored fur propping out from leathery, twisted flesh. The entire surface of his arm was gruesome, leaving only the basic shape of the arm to be recognized. As I stepped back and struggled to keep my dinner down, I heard the door to the infirmary open amid my gagging. A curious Basitin doctor stepped out from the open entryway, turning her head over to the direction of the commotion I was causing.

"Hello?" She called out in my direction, her vision obstructed by the traditional eyewraps worn by doctors of their kind. She held a red tipped cane in her hand, presumably to make sure she didn't run into anything while she was blindfolded.

" _What in the world is a Basitin doctor doing all the way out here?"_ I pondered to myself, straightening out my stance. I wouldn't call myself an expert on Basitin society, but as far as I knew, most Basitins stayed secluded on their island. I'd also heard that their doctors weren't the greatest among the other races, but maybe at least she would know how to cure this old fox of his alcohol coma.

"Um… Hi there." I replied, her large cream colored ears twitching as she heard the sound of my voice and snapped her head in my direction.

"Are you in need medical assistance?" She asked as her furred, slim body made her way over to the cart, her cane tapping rhythmically against the ground as she approached.

"I was just filling out some medical records. If you're sick or injured, I'd be more than happy to help you…" she trailed off as her hand reached out for me, gently touching my face as she attempted to examine me with her sense of touch as Basitin doctors do. Though her hand was rather soft, I politely lifted it away from my face with an uncomfortable shudder and directed her over to the cart where the keidran lay drunk and wet.

"I'm perfectly fine. It's this alcoholic old fox over here that needs the help."

She turned her head over to the direction that I had pointed her hand, cautiously tapping her cane to the ground as she progressed. As I walked up to the cart and watched her feel along the wooden interior for the keidran, I wondered why she hadn't taken off her blindfolds yet. It was customary for Basitin doctors to wear special wraps over their eyes as not to break their decency laws, but as far as I knew, they only had to wear them if they were examining a patient. Getting a patient inside your hospital shouldn't be against their decency laws.

"I don't mean to intrude, but…"

Her long ears twitched as she checked the fox for a pulse, signifying that she was listening.

"Wouldn't it be easier to check him, you know, with the blindfolds off? So you can see?"

She raised her back and looked towards the direction of my voice, a hand lifting up to timidly fiddle with the wraps around her hands.

"Oh… I'm actually blind. These wraps are only for show, my eyes don't work either way."

As she spoke, she went back to checking the keidran's vital signs, leaving me feeling like an idiot for asking.

"Erm… Sorry, I didn't realize you weren't able to see."

She stood up straight and gave a small smile in my direction, tucking her hands into the large pockets of her piercing white overcoat.

"Don't worry about it, you didn't know. Besides, I've been blind since the day I was born. That's just the way it's always been for me."

" _Well, that's unfortunate…"_ I lamented to myself, walking back over to the other side of the cart. She gave a soft pat to the back of the fox and pointed over to him as she gave me her diagnosis.

"It looks like he should be okay. His vital signs are all there and working, albeit rather poorly. I'd say after some detoxification and rest, your friend here will be fine."

She put a hand on his leg and turned to once more to address me.

"Now, let's get him inside shall we?"

Picking up the heavy fox, we shuffled our way over to the entrance of the hospital. She lifted his legs and went in front of me, carrying him wheelbarrow style as I held my two arms under him for support. I followed behind her red baggy pants as we entered through the doors of the office, her wrapped tail swishing from side to side as she walked. As we entered, she flipped on the rest of the building lights as a courtesy to me, leaving the signal light from outside on as well.

The office itself was fairly spacious and cozy, an odd feeling for a medical building to have. I'd just recently moved into the town and had been lucky enough to avoid sickness or injury in my year at Farnfoss, so I'd never seen the infirmary until now. On the faded mocha walls hung different paintings of bright colored flowers and forests. There was a small secretary counter that housed paperwork spread out all around the desk, presumably from the doctor.

" _How does she do paperwork if she's blind?"_ I questioned to myself as we scuffled through the waiting room and into the hallway that led into the different examination rooms.

We walked through the open door of the small room and hefted the oversized fox unto the bed. I sighed and stretched out my body, grateful for the relief of not having to carry the drunk around anymore. The room was warm and inviting like the waiting room had been, with the same mocha color enveloping the room with serenity. A small set of cupboards and a counter built into the wall housed different sets of tools and a sink, as well as a few more miscellaneous medical records.

I sniffled miserably as she set to moving the keidran into a more relaxed position on the bed, becoming painfully aware of my less than perfect condition. I was soaking wet, and if I didn't get out of these clothes soon, I'd end up just as bad as the fox. She quickly set to unwrapping the shawl around his face as she addressed me from the side of the bed, placing the wet garment on a coat hanger that was in the corner of the room.

"Your friend here won't be able to go home tonight. We have a guest bed upstairs for visitors that you can spend the night in if you'd like to stay."

I awkwardly scratched the side of my head, not sure how to address the issue.

"Well I uh… He's not exactly my friend." I explained to her back as she began unraveling the robes.

"I work at the tavern downtown as a freelance bard, and they had me take this drunk to see a doctor so the bloke didn't end up drinking himself to death," I said as she nodded her head.

"I honestly have no idea who he is. This is the first time I've seen him in the tavern since I started working there."

The doctor continued to work relentlessly at trying to get the fox's clothes off, her hands getting tangled in the mess of mana crystals wrapped around his body. She mumbled in frustration something about him trying to kill himself with hypothermia due to his complicated clothing that was now drenched in water. Seemingly having given up on the task for now, she swiveled on her foot wraps and looked in my general direction as she spoke.

"Ah, I see," she commented as she slowly moved towards the counter to grab some towels to wipe her moistened hands off with.

"It's still too late for you to travel all the way downtown, and if your shivering is any clue to me, it sounds like you could use a hot bath and a warm place to rest."

" _Dang,"_ I thought to myself as she spoke kindly to me, " _I didn't even realize I was shivering."_

"You can go ahead and stay the night in the guest room, there's a bathing room just down the hall upstairs, first door to your right. The guest room is the one just past that."

She turned back to attempting to free the fox from his freezing prison of soaked robes.

"If you need anything else, just come down to this room and ask me. I've gotta monitor him to make sure that he doesn't slip into a permanent sleep in the middle of the night, so I'll stay here to watch over him."

"Thank you for your hospitality. I'll try not to be too much of a bother while I'm here, I really appreciate it!" I declared as took off my barrette and smiled at the Basitin.

"Of course," she replied blankly, seemingly absorbed in her task. I figured there wasn't much sense in conversing any further, seeing as I was in a dire need of a change of clothes, and she was already engrossed with treating the old fox. As I turned to leave the door, I paused at the exit and flipped back around to her.

"Oh, and I don't think I got the chance to introduce myself! I'm Zander!" I told her happily, her body turning back around to give me a curious furrow of her brow.

She promptly stood and walked up to me to stick out her hand. I stepped forwards and took it into mine and gave a firm handshake as she spoke.

"Liviana," she stated with the trace of a smile printed on her stern looking face, her wild white-haired ponytail sprawling out in a strange contrast to her official manner of speaking. I released her hand from my grip as she spun around to return to the shallowly breathing fox behind her.

I made my way out of the room and headed to the end of the hallway, eager to get out of these wet rags that were once elegant pieces of artistic creativity.

" _Hopefully the rain didn't damage them too badly,"_ I thought to myself as I headed up the white washed stairs to the upper floor, starting to unbutton my tunic. Either way, it would be a relief to get them off.

" _I can already feel the warm steam of the tub!"_ I sang in my head, a blissful smile spreading across my lips. This would surely be one of the most rewarding baths I've ever had.

~Liviana~

When I heard the door at the end of the hallway click shut, I sighed and ran my fingers through the thick tufts of my hair. At least now Zander was safe, but I was nowhere near at ease trying to care for this keidran. Though it was too early to make a snap judgment on either of these strangers, I felt certain that Zander was a decent person at the very least. His voice had sounded quite genuine when he talked to me, and I doubt he knew what kind of person he had just wheeled into the infirmary. This fox was not to be trusted.

The fact that he was a mage made me suspicious of him from the beginning. I'd never been fond of magic users, and their sheer amount of power that they could harness at any time was unsettling.

Magic was something that I couldn't understand or control, and that made me feel cornered when it came to dealing with mages of any type. Be it either human Templars or keidran mana crystal mages, no magic users were trustworthy to me. Templars single handedly set in motion the long and grueling war that tore through the nation, and even though the keidran can't syphon energy from the Templar's towers, they can still resort to black magic as a last defense…

Which is precisely what this old keidran had done. When I propped him up on the bed, I felt the familiar feeling of corrupted flesh under my fingers from his right arm. Lifting up his sleeve and feeling along his arm now, it was plain to see that my suspicions were absolutely correct. His leathery skin pressed uncomfortably onto my hand as I felt the mass of twisted muscle and bone.

His arm lay in stark contrast with the rest of his body, the unpleasant corruption spread all the way up to his shoulder blade. Using dark magic is mostly forbidden in all practices, so this guy must've been extremely desperate to risk not only his life, but his sanity and the stability of his soul.

No matter the reason for resorting to the dangerous art, the fact that he had done so was more than unnerving. Using overpowered magic like that is bound to come with some negative consequences, and because he's crippled with alcohol poisoning, there's no telling how dangerous this keidran could truly be.

Even though he has obviously fallen into weakness due to his drinking habits, he was still avid about keeping enough mana crystals on him to blow up an entire city. As I unstrung some of the long strands of necklaces that carried the crystals, I couldn't help but worry about the fox.

What if he was insane? A powerful mage with no sense of reality would be just as dangerous as inviting 20 dragons over for a lovely tea party. He could wreak havoc unlike anything ever seen before, and the fact that he'd nearly killed himself from drinking signified that at the very least, his mind is plagued with bad decisions.

Even if he wasn't insane, there was no way that he managed to pull a black magic stunt like that without losing some of his soul in the process. He may just be a mere husk of the man he was before, leaving nothing left but a powerful body with no morality. Equally as dangerous as the insane variety, and twice and menacing because they would feel nothing while ruthlessly murdering innocents in cold blood.

I shuddered and removed my hands from the ghastly skin of the fox, a small whine of pain rising from his mouth as my hand bumped into his. Despite how much I wanted to toss him back out into the rain, there was still the slight chance that he wasn't a threat, and I had to perform my duties as a doctor. I reluctantly rose from the bedside and felt along the wall until I reached the first cupboard by the door. I opened it and reached inside for a large nightgown that would fit the fox, all the while trying to convince myself that I was overreacting.

I leaned up against the wall and let out a heavy sigh. I took in a few deep breaths and pulled the wraps off from over my eyes, letting my hair and face breathe. I walked my way over to the table and set the wraps down, blinking my eyelids open a few times to refresh them after being covered for a majority of the day. Normally I would've kept them on until I went to bed, but it didn't look like I'd be getting much sleep tonight anyhow, so I might as well get comfortable.

I returned to the bedside and felt along the breast of the fox in order to find a way to free him of his drenched sarcophagus. After finally deciphering the elaborate button pattern that trapped him, I set to freeing his body of his death sentence. It took a lot of effort and flinging around of his body, but I finally got him free of everything he had on earlier, save for his undergarments that had stayed dry under his heavy robes.

I gave myself a short break to recover some of the energy I'd expended on moving a body much larger than I was before. I groaned as I began the daunting task of redressing him.

With plenty of grunting, struggling effort, and nearly breaking my back from flipping him, I finally succeeded in slipping him into the scrubs. I gasped heavily and threw myself in one of the chairs along the wall. It was a small blessing that the office chairs were quite plush and comfortable, because I certainly wasn't looking forward to the night ahead of me.

My eyes closed as I sat back in the chair, listening to the world around me. The building was mostly quiet, the sound the fox's breathing making up most of the audible noise in the room. Beyond that, I could hear the gentle breeze of the wind blowing outside the window and the water draining from the bath upstairs. I figured that meant that Zander was finished cleaning up and was headed off to sleep, something I should do as well.

I must've drifted off into some sort of nap as I sat there in the chair, because the next thing I heard was a knocking at the door frame. Slightly startled by the noise, I snapped my head to the direction of the doorway. Fearing that the keidran had escaped without awaking me, I tensed up and prepared to be sentenced to death for releasing a murderer into the streets.

I heard a scuffling pair of feet enter the room and stumble around before I heard the startled voice of Zander addressing me.

"Oh, my bad! I didn't realize you were asleep, Liviana," he apologized as I relaxed back into my chair and tried to calm my racing heart.

"Do you mind if I turn the light on?"

I nodded and rubbed my eyes, letting a sleepy response rise from under my breath.

"Yeah it doesn't bother me any…"

I heard him whisper under his breath, "Oh yeah, blind, I forgot…"

I smirked softly to myself and shuffled in the chair to face him as I gingerly spoke.

"Did you need something Zander?"

His fingers snapped in remembrance as he spoke.

"Ah, yes! Do you know where I can find some clothes to sleep in? Mine are still soaked, and I don't quite think this towel will suffice," he said with a chuckle.

As I sniffed softly into the air, his fresh washed scent filling my nose. At I hadn't been asleep for too long since he just recently finished bathing. I pointed to the corner of the room with the cupboards as I directed him to the nightgowns.

"First cupboard, there should be a few nightgowns in there. I don't know for sure what size you are, but I think that you're probably something along the lines of a small or medium? Those are in the lower shelf, right in the front."

I listened to the light patting of his feet against the polished floors as he reached in and picked out a suitable nightgown, heading back out to the door. As I leaned back into the chair and into the open arms of sleep, I heard his feathery footsteps stop before leaving.

"Thanks Liviana! I should be out of here by tomorrow. Sleep well!"

I laid back into the fluff of the chair and nodded sleepily, halfheartedly mumbling out something along the lines of 'you too' before slipping back into the restful trance of earlier. As he left, I heard him flick off the light and shut the door, leaving me alone again. If tomorrow was anything like I feared it would be, at least tonight was fairly relaxing.


	2. Chapter 2: Death to Peace

_**~Liviana~**_

I woke up in my cushioned office chair, my head spinning. Standing in a daze, I stumbled around as I held my head.

"Ugh, my head hurts," I moaned, guessing it was from the uncomfortable position. Sitting up and sleeping on a wall doesn't do well on anyone.

Slowly, I approached the bed where the intoxicated fox lay. I had to see if the man was doing alright. If I was lucky, he would've lasted the night and would be doing fine. I genuinely hoped he stayed asleep until Zander came around. I didn't want to deal with an angry old fox while the bard enjoys his snooze.

I stood silent, listening for breathing, something I had to do often with patients. Thankfully, I still heard the faint sound of his breath in the room. I had an advantage over my fellow doctors with my sensitive Basitin ears, allowing me to hear even the faintest of sounds.

I lightly shook the mage to wake him. In response, the keidran let out a light groan of both pain and the urge to stay asleep. I heard him slowly sit up, mumbling something. I stepped back to give him space. While his mind was waking, I walked over to the counter to put on my eye wraps. Although they were highly uncomfortable, I wanted to stay true to my traditions.

"Ow, my head…" he whined. This made me smile, thinking back to just moments ago where I said the same thing.

"Where am I?" he commented, his voice slow and hung over.

"You are at the Farnfoss Clinic, sir. If it weren't for the bard at the tavern for carrying you here, you'd be dead from alcohol poisoning. You should be more cautious when you drin-…"

"Wait!" the keidran moaned slowly, cutting me off, "Farnfoss, the human village? How the hell did I end up here?" His voice was raspy and deep, worn over the years of his exceptionally short life.

I looked at him with confusion. "What's wrong with humans?" I asked.

"Templars! I bet that bard poisoned me and sent me off to the insane Basitins to get my arm cut off!"

I heard him turn to me in fright. Quickly, he scrambled over to his robes to yank a mana crystal necklace off of it. I felt a blast of heat rise from one of his hands, a fire spell of some sort.

"Get back, Basitin! You won't have my arm!"

"Hold on, hold on! I'm trying to help you!" I yelled to calm him down. He growled with rage in response.

"You're working with the humans, aren't you?" he shouted back. The door to the office slammed open, and Zander entered. We stopped as I turned my head to him.

"What's with all the flippin' ruckus?" he shouted.

"You must be the wretched human bard," he said coldly.

Zander scoffed mockingly. "Yeah, I am the only person here without fur."

"Shut it, you ugly bastard! Why did you bring to this… this _insane asylum_?"

"Insane asylum? Mate, look around you! This is the bloody clinic, you idiot!"

Silence entered the room like vortex. I heard heavy sighing from the fox's direction, and what sounded like pacing.

"Okay, maybe the Basitin isn't insane. But I still don't trust you, human," the fox said.

"What's wrong with me?" Zander asked, "I saved your hide! You should be thanking me, not bashing on me!"

"Look, it's… difficult for me to trust humans." He said with a frustrated sigh,"I fought in the war between the Forest Wolves and the Humans. Besides, The Templars made it clear that humans are never to be trusted as allies," he said as I heard him whip his robes back on.

"Wait, why were you even involved in that war? You're a fox keidran, not a wolf," Zander questioned with a curious tone.

"Simple, it's my homeland. You may or may not know, but the foxes have a territory smaller than my tolerance for humans. I represented them as a diplomat, negotiating between the people I grew up with and the land I technically belong to. I owe my heritage to the foxes, so I wanted to help forge a relationship between my family and my ancestors," the fox stated as he noisily buttoned and restrung his robe.

More silence. My ears twitched a bit at the sudden lack of noise. I could tell this conversation was getting awkward. I stepped in to break the quiet standoff.

"Okay, sir," I said, walking closer to the fox. "I still have to check on you. What's your name?"

He sighed.

"Sayyaf. Look, I don't need to be here, I just drank too much. I'll take my leave," he said as he tried to leave out the door. I stopped his tall body with my left hand, not moving my head or breaking my stance.

"Sayyaf, hold on. You can't leave just yet. You just suffered alcohol poisoning, and I'm surprised you're even awake right now. Do you feel sick at all?" I asked, curiously tilting my head as I spoke.

"No, ma'am. I just have a god-awful hangover, and these lights are frying into my brain." Sayyaf sighed in a worn out tone.

"Alright, you may return to… erm, wherever you came from…" I said, laughing softly. I heard Zander chuckle as well.

"I don't even know how I ended up here…" I heard Sayyaf mumble as he walked to the door and stumbled out of the room. Just as it opened, someone else entered the room.

"I have a letter for a… Zander Richfield? Looks urgent," the boy said hastily. "Oh, hello Ms. Gorwin, are these your patients?"

I turned to the direction of the boy. I recognized the voice.

"Yes they are, Curtis. Would you mind delivering letters at after hours from now on?" I asked the child.

"Oh, of course, Ms. Gorwin! I didn't mean to interrupt."

"Don't worry about it, Curtis. Just remember my request."

The boy walked off down the hallway of the clinic as I smirked at his youthful ignorance. I heard Zander gasp.

"Oh, no…" he whispered. I heard the letter shift in his hand. It must have truly been urgent.

"What the matter, Zander?" I asked him, curious of what happened.

Zander cleared his throat to read the out loud.

 _Hey, how's it going, Zander? I know it's been awhile since I last wrote, but with good reason! The caravan I've been guarding decided that they wanted to move up to the snow wolf territory to grab a piece of the chaotic action that's been going on there for a while now. You may not remember, but there's a small Basitin city on the outer borders called Castle Heywood, and if recent reports hold anything true, it sounds like it won't be there for much longer._

 _The snow wolf tribes have been uneasy at the spread of outside influence within their country for the last few years now, and it sounds like they're going to be burning the whole castle down, citizens and all. There's some valuable musical knowledge held by the scholars in Heywood, so it might be worth your time to make a trip up there and salvage whatever you can find before the whole city turns to ash._

 _Also, if you choose to come, I want you to do it for the music, not for me. Even though I know you worry about my safety, you're a horrible swordsman, and I always have to end up saving you._

 _If I find out that you came for my safety, I will throw you to the wolves. Literally._

 _Anyhow, come if you want to save the heritage of a city, but if the cold proves a bit too much for you, I won't judge you (too much)._

 _So, I bid you goodbye Zander! I'll be in the city for a few days if you choose to come._

 _Hope to see you soon,_

 _Amelia_

"She can't go in there alone! The caravan will surely get ransacked and raided! I've gotta go and help Amelia!" Zander shouted with heroic zeal.

I heard Zander fly out of the room as I quickly grabbed my cane and started after him to see what he was doing.

"Sayyaf!" he shouted, "I need your help!"

"Dear gods, please lower your voice!" Sayyaf angrily growled as I heard him plop into one of the chairs dotting the waiting room.

"I know you hate humans, but I really need you to negotiate with those snow wolves so I won't get killed. My sister is counting on me, and I am counting on _you!"_ Zander exclaimed with desperate passion.

"Why should I even consider going with you? Especially when there's going to be a human caravan involved! They are just as racist as the humans before the dumb treaties!" Sayyaf replied.

"I will tell you why you should come with me," Zander offered, thoughtfully tapping his feet on the tiled flooring.

"You were in the forest wolf army, yeah? Well, if you come with me, you will gather some valuable intelligence from their northern neighbors to report to your higher ups," he negotiated.

"I have no higher ups to report to. I was discharged after the treaties were signed," Sayyaf said bitterly.

"' _Too hateful to remain in the army'_ , they said. They wanted peaceful soldiers to represent their promise." Sayyaf scoffed in angry disbelief.

"Have you ever heard of a peaceful soldier?" he grumbled before Zander continued.

"Even so, they can't turn this offer down. You'll get your position back, don't worry," Zander said, patting Sayyaf's shoulder.

Sayyaf sat in silence, pondering the offer as Zander's foot tapped nervously on the ground.

"Fine, I'll go," he sighed, pushing Zander's hand off from him. "So long as you stop touching me."

I heard him cheer in celebration.

I stepped forwards to get the boys' attention. "I would like to join alongside you, if I could. I lived almost all of my childhood in Castle Heywood, so I could help you around there. Alongside that, I have to assist my family and my people in whatever is going on over there.

I smiled with pride, "Plus, you'll need a translator."

"Fine, you can accompany us. Who will take your place at the clinic, though?" Sayyaf asked me. I cracked a small smile.

"They already have plenty of other doctors here, one less won't make much of a difference."

"Right, then! Let's venture forth, shall we?" Zander enthusiastically sang out, his feet already heading for the door.

 _ **~Sayyaf~**_

I shouldn't even be going with this stupid human. Just a year ago, I would have killed any human, but now? I am travelling with one on a job that may be a trap or a hunch! I cleared my negative thoughts _._

 _No, this has to be true,_ I thought, _I've been drinking my life away after the war. This is my one chance at redemption._

Zander lead us down the inviting halls of the clinic and onto the streets of the town. The morning air helped clear away some of the headache that I had from earlier and I inspected the human with scrutiny in the rising sun.

Zander had fluffy, black bowl cut hair hidden under his green beret. His skin shimmered a light brown color. His eyes was a sky blue color, surrounded by the weird baby face he had. Thin lips and eyebrows made up his complexion, with an average looking human nose.

Those noses are nasty; I don't understand how other humans can find that "attractive". He wore a green silk bard's outfit, and carried around faded yellow lute strapped onto his back for travel. Not to mention his stupid looking tights.

 _What have I gotten myself into?_ I thought.

"Anyone have a map?" he asked, glancing back while walking. Liviana shrugged.

"I don't have a purpose for one. What about you, Sayyaf?" she asked me. I thought for a moment.

"I don't have a physical map, but perhaps a guidance spell can help us?" I suggested.

"How does it work?" the bard asked.

"It's like a mental compass. It'll point me in the general direction of where we need to go since I haven't been there before."

"It's better than nothing," Liviana said. Both Zander and I shook our heads in agreement. We continued down the roads of the petty town to go round up supplies. Our first stop was the town market to stock up on food, and to get some knapsacks for the road. There were half a dozen or so vendors shouting advertisements for an assortment of different goods. We stopped at a food stand and got some meals for the road ahead.

"See anything you like?" he asked Liviana.

"Zander, I'm blind, remember?"

He rubbed his neck nervously and chuckled with his eyes closed.

"Right… I forgot, sorry. Do you have any preferences?.

"I'm a fan of fish." She offered, Zander confirming her order to the tab.

"What about you, Sayyaf?"

I was surprised he asked. I crossed my black furred arms and gave him a dirty look. "I'm a keidran, what do you think I want?"

"I don't know, a dog bone?" he casually mocked.

My expression quickly changed to an enraged one. "Take that back, you racist scumbag!" I growled.

He threw his arms out in front of him defensively. "Woah, woah! It was a joke! Seriously though, what do you want?" he airily questioned, looking mildly annoyed.

I looked down with my arms still crossed. "Get me any sort of meat. The only meat I don't like is chicken. I've… had some bad experiences with it in my system." Liviana looked in my direction with a look of slight disgust.

"Gross," she said jokingly. I shook my head, slightly embarrassed. Zander let out a hearty laugh, his faded yellow lute jumbling around in time with his laughter. Zander opened up his pack and retrieved some gold coins. He offered it to the vendor, pointing at the food he wanted. The vendor agreed to the price Zander offered and wrapped up the food items in a paper wrapping. Zander scooped them up and placed them his rugged brown sack. After doing so, he swung it around his back and continued to another vendor.

At the market, we picked up two small tents, a week's worth of supplies, some medical supplies, a string of mana crystals, a roughly drawn map of the surrounding area that looked just as useless as the buyer himself, and a compass. We headed out of the market and continued on the road to Whitefield that I assumed would be a long, cold, and treacherous one.


	3. Chapter 3: Trials and Tribulations

~Sayyaf~

"Seriously? _Seriously!?_ You had me buy all of this map stuff, and yet we're still lost?" Zander spat out me, his beady little eyes scrunching in fury.

"You think this is _my_ fault? You were the one who wanted all those pointless maps anyhow!" I growled back as I clenched my fists together into tight balls, ready to claw out his eyes at any moment.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Liviana leaning up against a tree, rubbing her temples in stressed impatience. I felt sorry for the girl having to follow along behind this blabbering idiot, but I suppose in the same way I pitied myself for making that exact mistake.

"Yeah, I do. We followed your dinky little 'homing' spell or whatever that was for nearly two days without seeing a single landmark, town, or living soul for that matter!" he sharply replied, attempting to get in my face despite his puny size.

I reeled back and slouched lower into an offensive stance with my claws drawn out for him to see and cower in fear from.

"Oh believe me; I can do a lot more than a 'dinky' guidance spell…" I growled in a low and threatening voice. His eyes widened at my display, my actions having earned fearful respect from the wimpy bard. I smirked and straightened out my stance, lowering some of the hostility in my tone.

"Besides, if you would've followed my way the whole time, we could've been to the next city by now. It was your bright idea to try and make sense of that hardly legible map to decipher where we should go!" I scoffed at him, crossing my lengthy arms as his face became red with shame and anger.

"Okay, that rock really did look like the one on the map!" he argued in his defense.

"So did the 20 other ones that we passed on our way to this clearing, and those ones didn't seem all that important to you, wise guy!" I refuted, leaving him huffing with anger as he once again stepped towards me and became animated.

"You're option didn't get us much further than mine did, and there was no way we could've known what was right or wrong! For all we know, you might've been trying to send us into a trap!"

I snapped my head towards scowled in disgust.

"You? Into a trap? Please, you were capable of doing that yourself."

At this, he threw down his bard's cap and stomped up to me clenching his teeth in a bitter rage. I growled at him and held a hateful snarl on my muzzle as he began to yell up at me.

"That's the last straw! I'm going to-"

A heavy fist came down unto the aged brittle wood of the tree that Liviana was leaning on, stopping us dead in our argument as we turned to look at the startling sound of crunching wood.

She ripped her fist out of the tree she'd punched into, and stormed over to us at a frightening pace, the calm of her face only adding to the wave of fear that was washing through me like a typhoon. I glanced over to the bard, and he was even worse off than I was. His tan skin had turned a sickly pale as his blue eyes stayed glued on Liviana, his entire body quivering like the trees around us in the chilling wind.

Turning back to Liviana, I jumped at her sudden arrival in front of me. Her body looked so tense and wound up, I was surprised she hadn't crushed all her bones from how tight she was clenching every muscle in her small frame. In all my 15 years of life, I'd never feared for my safety more than I have now; I would rather face 100 Templars at the Marble Tower than the wrath of a woman like Liviana. She spoke in a hushed whisper, each sentence leaving her mouth like poison on the tip of the fear dagger she'd already dug into my stomach.

"Two things."

She lifted two fingers as she spoke, her arm looking as if it were about to explode from the trembling anger that filled the basitin.

"First off, that tree was the hardest I've ever punched anything in my entire life, and I'm almost certain I broke something in my hand when I did that."

My eyes nervously darted back between her and the ground, the fur on my back stiff with fear.

"Second off, we will never solve anything by arguing over nothing."

I hung my head down and scratched the back of my neck, not particularly enjoying the life threatening scolding that she was bearing down on me and Zander. Her voice was sharp; I could feel it cutting me apart with each word.

"So, why don't we work together and try to find a solution to this problem, before I bare another broken hand in favor of making your faces the new contenders for the hardest thing I've ever punched?"

By this time, both Zander and I had long since lost our appetite for fighting, and I think he may even need a change of britches. Just as I prepared for another fit of scolding, her ears perked up as she whipped around and locked onto an area of bush a little ways away from us. Curious at what the young Basitin had heard, I propped my ears up and listened intently to the bushes too. The bard was left as clueless as ever as his eyes shot to where we were looking.

"Is uh… Is something supposed to happen?" Zander asked with confusion filling his voice.

"Shut up."

I cut him off bluntly, training my ears back to the rustling bushes.

"Something's coming!" she whispered at us, ears twitching as she turned back to address us.

Liviana crouched low and signaled us to do the same as we shuffled behind a large shrub that concealed us from view. I leaned in and got the others' attention by flicking them with my tail, an old military tactic that was good for discreetly alerting others.

"I'm going to take a peek," I whispered in a barely audible tone. I turned from my crouching position and got on my knees from behind the bush, my head barely poking out enough to catch a good look at the threat.

A heavy machete cut through a small patch of shrubs as a light, gray furred keidran came out from behind the foliage, his tall body shown fully in the open sunroof of the forest. He wore a heavy brown jacket accompanied by a colorful scarf consisting of a red and blue pattern. A white v-cut shirt covered his chest, and long tan trousers concealed his legs. He had what looked to be a tool belt and several different assets for travel, like a compass and several maps it had seemed.

I scoffed in disgust and sank back down behind the bush. He was obviously not a wild or feral keidran, but I would've rather met with one of those than this sad excuse for a forest wolf. At this point, he was practically a human with fur and a tail.

" _Typical,"_ I thought bitterly to myself, alerting the others with my tail once more.

"What'd you see?" Zander asked in a hushed whisper, his eyes wide with worry at having to actually fight for once in his life.

"It's a keidran, but not a wild one. He's been horribly humanized though, so I doubt he's any threat to us. Just in case he is though, we all have a weapon right?" I asked, directing my comment mostly to the bard.

He triumphantly pulled out the sickly yellow lute from behind him and gave a devious smile as I rubbed my eyes with defeated frustration.

"Got all I need right here!" he declared in a proud whisper.

"What, are you going to strum them a little diddle and hope that your playing is horrible enough to kill them?" I said with sarcastic annoyance.

He gave me a glare with his ugly, beady eyes before frowning and continuing his declaration of combat methods that were sure to get him killed.

"No, I'm gonna bash their heads in with it!" he exclaimed with a testing look towards me. "Though I'm starting to think it might work better on you…"

He stroked the lute as I burned a hole through him with my stare. There would be time for him later. Right now though, we had bigger problems.

"Alright Liviana, if worse comes to worst, you can use your walking stick as-?"

I turned to where Liviana should've been siting and stopped dead in my sentence. Just moments ago the Basitin doctor had been sitting right there, and now she was gone. Fearing the worst, I whipped around on my knees and poked my head above the bush, the bard doing the same. I sighed a breath of relief as I saw Liviana and the keidran calmly chatting in the gentle sunrays. I stood up and brushed off the leaves from my cloak, heading over to the two in the shade of the forest. Zander saw me leaving and looked confused for a moment, hoping to his feet and following me like a lost puppy.

As I approached the couple, Liviana shifted her head towards us and signaled at the keidran about our presence. His vibrant green eyes filled with a happy glow as he went to greet me and the bard, politely sticking his hand out for me to shake.

"Hello there! I'm Caine."

He tilted his head with a relaxed and radiant smile, his small blue earring gleaming in the sunlight on his right ear. I hadn't noticed it earlier from afar, but I also noted that unlike me or Liviana, he lacked any hair besides the fur that covered his body.

I cautiously returned his polite gesture and retracted my hand after a few shakes. I didn't like the fact that he was almost as tall as me, and I certainly didn't enjoy his human-like nature.

"Sayyaf," I said blankly as the keidran moved on to greet Zander, giving me a chance to retie my graying brown hair into a short ponytail before moving away from him. After introducing himself to Zander, they talked as Caine giddily chuckled. He spun around to address me and Liviana with a beaming smile.

"So, you've got a bard, a mage, and a doctor huh? It sounds like a set up for a bad joke!"

He snickered as Liviana cracked a sideways smile and Zander laughed lightly, the bad joke about bad jokes apparently tickling the idiot's funny bone. I flicked Liviana with my tail to get her attention. She looked over to me as I leaned in and spoke quietly.

"Hey," I whispered in a soft tone, "I don't think I trust this guy."

She turned her head to he and Zander talking for a moment before turning back to address me.

"Looks like you're going to have to learn then, because he's a cartographer," she stated with a hint of malice in her voice as she crossed her arms and propped her eyebrows up at me.

I sighed heavily and rubbed my eyes, trying to explain myself to the young doctor.

"Yeah, yeah…" I trailed off absentmindedly, attempting to find a way to get my point across.

"A map maker would certainly be useful for finding our way back. The point is though, is that we hardly know this guy! And if his clothes are anything to go off of, then I'd have to say that he has been completely humanized. That means that at any moment he and his other spies could-"

Liviana cut me off with a shake of her head and a heavy hand on my arm. She looked sad yet stern, like a mother catching her son stealing something and having to talk to him about his morals. I was confused as to what she was doing, but I think it was along the lines of comforting and reprimanding me? Mixed feelings filled my head as she spoke in a sympathetic but blunt tone.

"Look, Sayyaf. I understand you were in the war against the humans, but that war is through. It's time to put down your weapons and accept that the world is changing, because it's going to happen, with or without you. Stop living in the past, unless you want to die with it."

She dropped her hand from me and started tapping the ground with her stick to find her way to the other two, leaving me stunned and alone. My eyes stayed glued to the spot where the Basitin had once stood, her look of concern burning into my mind. I… I didn't even know how to feel. More than anything I just felt empty.

I shook my head and cleared my thoughts, not wanting to think about it anymore. Maybe she was right, but I wasn't about to give up my suspicion of the world around me. I fought too hard, lost too much to simply give up and let everything I did be for nothing.

I felt my ravaged arm flex beneath my cloak, bitterness filling my heart. No, If there was ever a time for all the races to live as equals and achieve peace, it would not be a time that I'd get to see.

"Sayyaf!"

I snapped out of my trance and looked back to the small huddle of people around a map as Zander called out for me.

"There's a village just an hour down away from here, and it has an inn too!" he exclaimed happily as I made my way over to the rest of the group. My stomach growled and I sighed, forgetting just how bad off we were. Caine seemed nice enough, and I suppose that his way was better than nothing.

With relieved smiles coming from everyone as they talked, I couldn't help but crack a tiny smile myself. Maybe we were a joke, but I'm starting to think that this will be a joke worth listening to.

~Caine~

The sounds of the rivers flowing evenly and the rustling of the winds filled my senses as we made our way to the nearest town. It was a shame I couldn't stop and take a nap along the riverside. I wasn't bothered too much though, as the group I guided were an interesting bunch! I glanced back at the trio of oddities and smiled to myself, thinking back on the conversations I'd had with them along this serene walk into the dimming light of day.

Zander, was a hoot! He seemed like a fun person to be around when you were bored, and was a genuine person. Though he was sarcastic at times, he was hardly overbearing with it as far as I could tell. I talked with him first, and he spoke fondly of his sister that he'd planned on meeting. After some talking, he even taught me how to play his lute, though I wasn't quite made out for the instrument's smaller size. I saw him talking with Sayyaf, which was odd considering how the two didn't get along. At least for now, the two were civil.

Speaking of Sayyaf, I wasn't sure how to feel about him. I could tell that he was a wise mage with much experience, but I could feel that his heart was filled with bitterness and hate. When we talked, he shared very little about himself besides a few tidbits on how he lived in the forest wolf territory. We did happen to share a few fond memories of our common homeland, and I felt that after that, he opened up more to me. There was certainly some things troubling the poor man, but I knew he'd be able to overcome his demons; we all do in the end. I hoped to learn a lot from Sayyaf, if he was willing to share.

Someone else I thought I could learn a lot from was Liviana, though I hadn't got the opportunity to talk to her yet. She seemed somehow different than the others, as she was more reserved and thoughtful than the rest of the group. She didn't strike up conversations at will like Zander, but she wasn't brooding and full of malice like Sayyaf. She seemed to be absorbing the world around her like a sponge, taking in everything she could with every step she took. I envied the way she seemed to both be able to take in the sensations of the forest while also being able to walk. I always had to stop and lay down if I ever wanted to truly appreciate my surroundings, but she seemed to be able to do it on the go. I smiled as I watched her gracefully walk through the forest like she'd lived here her whole life.

I was impressed with how fast she could walk without seeing, and even as I walked up beside her, she kept right up in pace with my large strides from my tall legs. She skillfully avoided obstacles with the guidance of her well placed stick jabs into the ground. I loved how free she walked, not needing anyone's help despite going through parts of the forest that were as treacherous as a mountain side. I walked in time with her and observed the fascinating way she moved for a while before speaking.

"So, you're a doctor then, Liviana?" I asked with a goofy grin on my face, excited to get a moment to talk to her.

Her ears perked up at the mention of her name, making my heart flutter a tiny bit. Though I'd only just met her a while back, I'd always found Basitins to be much more attractive and elegantly built than keidrans. Something about their silky fur and large, perky ears allured me, and my heart abounded in joy from being able to talk to one in person.

"Ah yes, I've been practicing medicine for… Hmm… 6 years now I think it was?" she responded thoughtfully, her gentle higher pitched voice exalting a sort of hidden songbird quality as she spoke.

"Wow, that's impressive!" I complimented wholeheartedly, encouraged by how inviting her tone was as we talked. I took notice of the wraps around her hands and tail as well, nodding in understanding as I watched her. It seemed that not only was she an expert doctor, but she was also ready to administer care at a moment's notice.

"Say, why is it that you say 'practicing medicine'?" I asked dumbfounded, my curiosity about the often used terminology getting the better of me.

Her lips curled up into a grin as she answered, pride in her work swelling in her voice as she spoke.

"Well, unlike some of my other colleagues, I happen to believe that you can never stop improving. There's always so much to learn from the world around us, so long as you're willing to pay attention."

By now, my tail wagged uncontrollably as I grinned wider than I had the whole day. Not only did I have a stunning and intelligent Basitin walking right beside me, but she also shared the same philosophy and ideals that I did!

"That's awesome!" I enthusiastically replied, watching happily as her glowing smile grew with each passing sentence we shared.

"I think the same way," I continued, "I've always been in love with the prospect of learning and discovering more about the world. It's the main reason I became a cartographer, so I could see as much of the world as possible during my lifetime."

Her smile faded at the mention of my shorter life span, a small furrow of worry forming on her brow.

"Oh yes, I'd almost forgotten about short a keidran's life was…" she lamented solemnly.

.

"Well hey now! It's not that short to us!" I replied brightly, watching her faded smile restore to its former glory.

"I personally think that Basitins and humans live a bit _too_ long actually. I'd imagine that if I had another 40 years to live, well… I'd probably just end up napping them away, because I wouldn't know what to do with them!" I exclaimed cheerfully, watching Liviana laugh a little at my silliness.

She turned her head in the direction of my voice and gave a polite smile to me before speaking.

"Caine, I really hope that you'll be able to see the world before your time here is done."

She paused thoughtfully before posing her next question.

"How old are you exactly?" she questioned with curiosity as I beamed with the chance to share more about myself with the lovely Basitin.

"10 years old, and I'm hoping to live until I'm 30 too!" I answered gleefully, a smirk curling up her lips at my response.

"Hey now, I thought you said you didn't want to live that long?" she teased at me as I fiddled with my jacket sleeves.

"Well, I don't want to live forever, but a few extra years to truly grasp the wonders of the world would be nice," I sighed lightly, wistfully thinking on the distant future where I would have to face my demise. When I looked over to Liviana again, I was disheartened to see that she had turned somber once more as she spoke.

"Yeah," she said quietly, "I know what you mean, about wanting to see the world and all."

"Well, who's to say you can't?" I replied after a little while of silence, her ears perking up once more after falling droopily with her crestfallen mood.

"After all, I know a few places that you can truly experience the beauty of the world around you, with or without sight."

Her face glowed with positivity at my promises, her smile rekindling happiness in my soul.

"In fact," I mentioned proudly, "I even know of one that's not too far from Whitefield if you ever wanted to check it out?" I offered, wagging my tail with radiating happiness.

"Heh," she chuckled lightly at me, still grinning despite herself, "I might have to take you up on that sometime."

She stepped closer to me as she spoke with reverence on her past.

"You know, my parents had it in their best intentions to keep me sheltered from the world, but all I'd ever wanted to do was go out and experience the world for myself. When I managed to wiggle my way out of Heywood, the world wasn't really that different from home. I ended up just as I started, stuck in a little town practising medicine without anything fresh or exciting to add to my life."

Her ears dropped a little bit as she frowned from her previous experience with the world around her, but when she turned back to me, she was smiling warmly again.

"But you seem like you have a pretty good grip on the world. It'd be good for me to see something new for a change," she slyly smiled before addressing me once more.

"You'd better not disappoint me though, Caine!" she warned playfully.

My heart leapt with uncontained bliss at the prospect of being able to show Liviana one of my favorite landmarks across the continent. I don't know why, but she made me happier than anyone I'd met before. I could tell that we were going to be great friends! It's such a relief to know that I'd finally found someone much like myself in the world.

Over on the horizon, I spotted the Inn I had mentioned earlier and stopped to wait for the others, still smiling from before. As we stood close to each other in wait for Zander and Sayyaf, I felt the wrapped tail of Liviana gently brush over mine in a moment that seemed to last too long to be an accident. A wave of nervous jitters shot up my spine as I felt her silky tail drag across mine in a brief pause of time. My chest tightened as I breathlessly turned to Liviana, stunned in silence from her actions.

I was shocked, unsure if the touch was anything more than an accident. Her face glowed with a tint of red sincerity as her head looked to the ground in embarrassment. She shyly played with the wraps around her hands, her blush steadily growing as we stood together in awkward silence. I couldn't help but to wag my tail at what happened, even if it was just an accident. I noted how adorable the flustered Basitin was before returning my stare to the ground, my cheeks growing steadily warmer with each passing moment. Though my stomach was doing flip flops from the tail touch, I kinda liked the tingling feeling that zipped through my body when she did it.

Finally Zander and Sayyaf came walking up behind us, the bard huffing in exhaustion.

"Ughhh… I thought I'd never make it out of that stinking forest," Zander complained airily, heaving the bag of supplies off his back and onto the ground.

Sayyaf smirked at the prospect of the poor human having to carry the heavy supplies the rest of the way out of the woods.

"Now you know how I feel, buddy," he commented sarcastically, nudging the human. Zander sighed and rolled his eyes, ignoring the fox.

"Doesn't help that this whole journey's been getting colder with each passing day," Zander sighed with unhappiness at the changing climate.

"The cold isn't all that bad," I reconciled with a smile. Zander mumbled a response under his breath, glaring at the ground.

"I'm tired and hungry. Are we clear to head off to the inn now?" he asked irritably, the long journey taking a toll on his small frame.

I nodded and signaled towards the inn on the horizon.

"Yep, we're all set to go! Are you guys okay with sharing rooms to save a bit of money?"

"Works for me…" Liviana said off-handedly, still blushing from before.

"Whatever gets me to a bed faster," Zander sighed, rubbing with temples with exhaustion.

"As long as I don't have to share a room this smelly human, then I'm all good," Sayyaf teased, sending Zander in a sputtering rage as he spun around to yell at the old fox. When Zander was greeted with the sly smile of Sayyaf, he deflated and turned back around, only then realizing that Sayyaf was joking. His triumphant smile beamed over the defeated bard, and I smirked at seeing him genuinely smile for the first time.

" _I suppose that even the sternest of foxes can't help but be a little mischievous from time to time,"_ I thought silently in my head as I addressed the group.

"Alrighty then, Ill share a room with Zander, and Sayyaf will stay with Liviana," I commented, unfolding my map and tracing a rough path to their destination with my finger.

"And it looks like we'll have to head out of the inn by nine if you guys want to make it to Whitefield Pass by the end of the week."

Everyone nodded, eager to get to their hot food and warm beds.

"Then we shall venture on!" I declared, heading onwards into the setting sun.

I glanced over one last time to Liviana, her stoic and plain expression returned back to normal. A small smile slipped out from my lips though as I noticed she still had a hint of rose to her cheeks.

A new adventure waited for us on the horizon of tomorrow, but for tonight, it was time for some well deserved rest.


	4. Chapter 4: Mountain Song

The inn that Caine suggested was rough. Although the price was fair, the beds weren't the most comfortable, not to mention there weren't many rooms. I had to share a bedroom with Liviana, and that was a nightmare. With how small she is, you'd be surprised how loud she snores!

It'd been an hour after departing from the small inn, and we were trudging through inches of snow in desperation to get to where the letter told us to. Luckily, that Caine fellow decided to help us out and lead us to our destination. If you were to ask me, I think he was guiding us for a different reason than just being polite.. The way he looks at Liviana makes me a bit concerned, especially since she can't see his looks. I know I am probably just being overprotective, but I've seen many broken-hearted lovers drown their sorrows at the bar, and I don't want Liviana to get hurt like that.

I looked to the right of me. Caine was looking over one of his maps while the rest of us took a short break from all the high-stepping we had to do to get past the snow. I shuffled beside Caine and looked at the map with him. He was whispering something hardly audible, but it seemed to be in keidran rather than my own language. Caine looked up with a bit of surprise, and quickly let out a grin.

"Hello, Zander! Sorry for the whispering, I was just figuring out where to go from here," he said merrily. I laughed a bit and patted him on his soft back.

"No problem, do what you need to. You are about the only useful person on this group." I whispered, gesturing with my head towards Sayyaf. The old oaf was just sitting there and adjusting his mana crystals that wrapped his cloak like a bad gift. He noticed me looking at him and squinted his eyes unpleasantly before turning away from me so I couldn't see his face. I shook my head and looked back to the map..

Caine looked away from the map and at me, with a look of concern painted across his gray muzzle.

"What's your problem with him, anyway? Did he do something to you to make you two hate each other?" he questioned with a hint of sadness.

"To be honest, we haven't really known each other for that long," I replied, "I met him at bar when I was playing one night. The bloke nearly drank himself to death after a few cups, so I rushed him to Farnfoss' Clinic. Luckily, Liviana was waiting inside for us and got Sayyaf back up and going. Turns out the oaf hated humans and that was the beginning of that."

"Why is he that way?" Caine asked me.

"It's because he was in the rather pointless war between the humans and the forest wolves. It made him bitter towards humans since he did so much work to stop them, even sacrificing his right arm for the bloody thing."

I watched him as he mindlessly fiddled with the crystals again, my eyes drawn to the memory of his tattered arm that hid under his cloak. I shuddered and turned back to Caine.

"I understand his feelings." I sympathized.

Caine glanced back down at the map with a saddened look. It seemed he was sorting things out, like this discussion got his cogs turning. Caine buried himself back into his map and continued to decipher where we were. I decided to leave him alone and talk with someone else.

I looked around our general area in search of a chat partner. Sayyaf was still messing with his stupid mana crystals, and Liviana had her arms wrapped around herself in order to keep warm. Though I envied my furred friends for having an extra layer of warmth, I doubt they were much better off than me. I walked over to the Basitin. With every step, her ears twitched slightly. I noticed she had taken her eyewraps off. She turned to me and felt my face to distinguish who I was, causing chills to ripple down my spine as she did this. I laughed nervously and slid her hand off my face. She jumped back a bit with surprise.

"Zander? Sorry about that. I didn't know who was approaching," she said, "I have to feel faces to identify people."

"No, it's fine, Liviana. I just don't like… people _touching_ me. I never had, please don't take it personally," I reassured her. Her face lit up with relief, and opened her arms for a hug.

"Basitins aren't great with touching or showing affection either… A hug might help us overcome our downfalls a bit if you're willing. May I?" she asked.

I responded with a tight hug. It was nice to have some friends again. Being a bard means you see a lot of faces come and go, some good and some bad. I hope this face stays around for a little longer.

"Thank you," I said cheerfully, brushing off the snow that I gained from the hug. I noticed again that Liviana was shivering. I guess Basitins don't have the long fur that Keidrans do. I signaled for her to follow me as I led her to Sayyaf. He turned around to me with a sort of judging look. He looked me and Liviana up and down, the fox waiting for me to speak.

"Sayyaf, may I ask you a favor?"

He let out a sigh. "Make it quick."

"I think we all need a break. Caine is still mapping out this place and Liviana and I are freezing. What do you say we make a fire?"

"Fine. Go get some logs," he ordered. I nodded and walked over to my snowed over pack. We had a pretty good supply of logs left, so I grabbed out three of them and walked back to Sayyaf and Liviana. Sayyaf motioned for me to put them down.

"You should all back up, this might be big," he said.

Sayyaf closed his eyes and let out a heavy breath. He lifted his left arm, and one of the hundreds of mana crystals dotting his body began to glow. Flames started to form in his furry palm as he quickly opened his eyes and snapped his hand towards the log. The flame shot from his hand to the pile of lumber in an instant. A loud bang rang through the field, and a large flame burst were the logs were. Almost instantly, the large flame shifted to a small campfire. I sighed in relief, in thanks our makeshift campsite didn't all go up in flames. Maybe Sayyaf is as good as he says?

Liviana walked a bit closer to the fire and sat. I pulled out my faded lute and did the same. Sayyaf invited Caine over to join us. He trotted merrily across the snow without a problem to our position. Sayyaf quietly grunted in disgust. Caine plopped down next to me, humming cheerfully.

"This is nice," he said, pulling out his map again. I grabbed out some Basitin Ale to share with the group. I took a drink for myself first, then offered it to Caine. He looked up from the map and saw the offer, shaking his head.

"Oh, no thanks, Zander. I don't drink," he responded.

I shrugged, and passed the ale to Liviana. She noticed me and refused with a hand wave. I instead handed the alcohol to Sayyaf for him to drink. His stone gray eyes lit up as I handed him the warm ale. He looked up at me with a sincere smile as he nodded in thanks and took the bottle from my hands. I watched in awe and slight disgust as he nearly downed the whole bottle. He shook his head, trying to resist the surge of alcohol that entered his system. He let out a relaxed sigh and handed me the bottle again.

Caine finally lifted his head out of the map. "Alright folks, we should head out to Whitefield Pass tomorrow. From there, we will take a path from the human town of Ditteridge to Castle Heywood. Sound like a plan?" We all nodded in agreement. Caine started to chuckle but it quickly turned to a loud cough. I looked over to him with concern.

"You okay, buddy?" I asked him.

He gave me a half-hearted smile, "Yeah… Just a cold, that's all. I've never been well suited for cold weather."

I nodded in agreement, taking a sip of what little ale was left.

"I know what you mean, I hate the cold almost as much as I hate dealing with drunk people." I sneered, directing my comment to the now passed out Sayyaf.

After a while of talking and drinking, our group went to set up the tents. Caine and I set up the tents while Sayyaf sat passed out from the ale. Liviana walked up to us through the heavy snow.

"Do you two want any help? I don't like sitting around being worthless," she offered. I shook my head.

"No, it's fine, Liviana. We should be done soon. Thank you anyway," I replied with a happy tone. Caine tail started to wag. I scooted over a bit, feeling a rush of awkwardness from the interaction.

"Caine! Learn to control that thing!" I scolded. He blushed a bit

"Oh, sorry about that, Zander. Sometimes it seems like it has a mind of its own!," he laughed. I couldn't help but laugh a bit myself. Caine and I continued to set up the tent. At this point, we only had one more stake to put in. I ordered Caine to hold down the last corner as I grabbed the stake and hammer. I positioned the wooden stake into the tent's corner and hammered it down.

I got back on my feet from the crouching position and brushed off the snow from my hands. I shuffled over to my pack and unclipped on of the sleeping rolls that were connected to it.

"Right then," I said, "Who want's to share this tent with me? I promise I don't snore," I joked. Liviana offered herself.

"If my memory serves me right, you said these tents were small, yes? Well, considering our sizes, I'm sure we can fit in there," she said.

I shrugged, "Alright, I suppose we could do. It'll be good to get some extra body heat in this barren cold wasteland," I responded.

I opened up the tent flap and instructed Liviana to enter. She nodded and used her walking stick to navigate through the tent. I followed into the small, tan tent. Liviana turned her head in my direction.

"Would you mind unrolling my bed roll?" she requested.

"Of course," I said. She held out her bed roll for me. I took it from her and did what I was told to do. I set the bed roll down. Liviana lay down and let out a relaxed sigh.

She closed her eyes and whispered, "Thank you…" At this point she was already asleep. I laid down as well on my already rolled out bed. _I suppose I should catch a few winks myself_ , I thought.

~Carter Bradford~

I woke up from my nap, drool spilling onto my workbench. I rubbed my eyes and yawned, stretching out my arms. _Must of been a while since I've slept_ , I thought sleepily. I looked around my shanty workshed. Mechanical parts, tools, schematics, little mechs I've made, a few candles, and other general litter scattered the place in an ungodly mess, only leaving a walkway from the door behind me to the workbench.

I slid out from my bench and walked out of the shed. Sunlight flooded into my eyes as I stepped out, forcing to shield them from the harmful rays. While looking up, I observed the skies. There were no clouds, so hopefully there would be no snow. Grabbing out my mana crystal bracelet, I shuffled over to my much nicer home.

The door swung open as I pushed it, and comforting heat rushed upon my body. I looked around my neat house. The fire was a bit low, and I noticed there was a kettle full of water that was ready to boiled. I stepped outside for a moment and obtained one of the logs from the pile I had stacked near my front door. I gently placed the timber on the dying fire, and the embers absorbed the log like a life-drain spell. This made me smile a bit.

I walked up to the kettle and picked it up. I placed it on the fire, a metal bar holding it up for boiling. Over to the end of the house in my kitchen, there was my tea cabinet. I paced over to the cabinet and browsed my selections. With over 40 different kinds, it was hard to chose. After thinking for a few minutes, I ultimately picked green tea over the rest, and placed a spoonful of it into a small teacup. I walked up to the second floor of my two story house to get dressed. I shuffled through my dresser and pulled out a white shirt, a faded black jacket, some light brown pants, and snow boots.

Going down the stairs, I grabbed my tea off of my dining table. I walked over to the fireplace where the water boiled, and poured it into my cup. I went over to my front door to venture out back to my workshed.

As I stepped out, I heard voices. My white furred ears perked up to pick up the sounds of the strangers better. I listened for a bit and realized that the voices were coming my way! I started crouching and slowly walked behind the side of my house. My house stood on a hill, so I could see any intruders that walked past.

I leaned in a bit to hear what they were saying.

"Look, there's a house here! We can probably warm up here," I heard a male voice say. It sounded human as well.

" _What am I going to do_?" I pondered, " _The Templars are going to be in my house! What if they find my inventions and… steal them? What if they burn down my house? What if they…_ " Possibilities rang in my head like a bell as I searched in fear for a solution. I had a eureka moment as I pulled out my handy tome book that rested in my jacket pocket. I opened it up and frantically shuffled through it. _I have to find a rune of some sort to capture these fiends_ , I thought.

I found just the right rune for the job. As I held out my right hand, one of the mana crystals started to glow a gentle blue. I casted it on the passage to my house in hopes to capture them. Luckily for me, the rune was buried beneath the snow and was extremely difficult to see. The rune still swirled in my right hand for when I wanted to stop it.

I saw a glimpse of the group before I retreated back behind my house, praying to the gods that the rune would catch them. Their voices became louder as they walked up the hill leading to my house. My eyes widened.

"These people aren't Templars... So who are they?" I pondered

I watched as one of the four of them; a silly looking bard, walked right on top of the illuminating rune. A bright flash burst into the air, and a fire-like cage erupted from where the once was. The group of strangers panicked, not knowing how to react. The bard tried reaching his hand out to one of the "bars", but quickly retreated it when it burned him. He shook his hand in pain and frustration, letting out a quiet yelp.

Realizing they were trapped for good, I revealed myself from the house. The fox mage that was in their group started to tense up in anger. I could see a snarl form at his muzzle, and a low growling sound flowed from his lungs.

What do you want from us, you dirty snow wolf? he questioned, speaking in Keidran rather than in the human language I heard them speak in earlier.

I crossed my arms. I'll have you know that my fur is not dirty. In fact, I keep it very clean, I responded sarcastically, I should be asking what you want with me. You are currently intruding my property.

The bard looked around with confusion. "What are you two saying? Anyone want to help me out?"

"Shut up, Zander!" Sayyaf barked in the human language.

A heavy sigh left the old fox's mouth. Look, we are sorry to 'intrude', okay? We were just looking for a place to warm up. We have been travelling for almost three days to get to Castle Heywood to h-

Hold on, I said, cutting him off. What business do you have there? I questioned.

Many reasons, my friend. For one, this dumb bard needs to find his sister there, the Basitin wants to see her family, and I want to find out… erm, things about your people?

I pondered for a bit. These people didn't really look dangerous, but you never know if there's a bad apple in the bunch.

I have a proposition. I will let you go _**if**_ you take me with you to Castle Heywood on official business. I ordered

And if we don't comply? he said, pushing the boundaries.

Then I will have you taken as prisoners by my father.

Who says your father can even attempt to take us as prisoners? We have four against two.

I laughed and shook my head with a grin on my face. You do know that my father is the leader of the Snow Wolves, right?

The old fox jumped from surprise by my words. He straightened up a bit. Let me discuss with my 'friends'.

I heard the man tell all the fools behind him about the deal. He took some time discussing and fighting with them. I'm not very fluent in the human language, but I understood most of what they were saying.

"We don't need another mouth to feed!" the bard spat.

The young Forest Wolf spoke up. "He looks very resourceful. I'm sure he doesn't mean harm."

"Don't be naive, Caine. If his father _is_ in fact the leader of the Snow Wolves, then he might be bad news for us." the fox said.

I decided to step in. "Wait," I said, attempting to speak in their language. "I don't mean harm. My father… is bad. I do not like him. I wish to go to with you so I can talk with him. I heard he was going to be there for diplomatic reasons. I have to find out what he is up to."

There was silence for a bit.

"What do you think, Sayyaf?" the wolf said, "Should he come with us?

The fox looked to me. "If you do come with us, would we be able to rest here and warm up?"

I sighed, "Fine. Don't stay long. I have warm tea ready if you want any."

I held out my hand and crushed the rune spell that still lingered in my grasp. I watched as the fiery cage suddenly vanished, leaving the group of travellers looking around them with surprise. I instructed them to follow as I turned to my house and trudged through the snow.

When we walked up to the house, I held open the wooden door for the group to walk inside. Everyone entered in except for the basitin. She seemed to hesitate a bit as I looked her with curiosity.

"Are you coming in, Basitin?" I asked her.

She stood there in silence, and extended her arms towards my head. Her hands ran across all parts of my surprised face. From my muzzle to my ears, apparently, there were no limits. I was almost frozen from shock.

 _What is she doing_? I thought to myself. She stopped at my jaws, and gave me a gentle pat on the side of my face.

"Hmm, slim but healthy..." she said.

I didn't really know what to say. "Why…?"

She cut me off, "Why? Well, if you couldn't tell, I am blind. I have to touch faces in order to distinguish features. Which, by the way, you have a nice eye shape."

"Th-thank you. Erm… would you like to come in? I have been holding the door for a few moments now."

She smiled with a bit of embarrassment. "Oh, sorry! Of course, thank you."

I followed the strange Basitin into my home. Her companions had already made themselves cozy. The bard sat next to fireplace, tuning his lute. The fox had gotten some of the tea and was drinking it at my small table. The forest wolf was fiddling with my books in my bookshelf on the wall near the stairs leading up to the second story which housed my bedroom. I ran up to him to stop him.

Before I could say a word, the wolf turned to me with a rather fascinated look in his eyes. "You have a spectacular collection, my friend! I can see you are a man of science."

"That I am," I responded, "But, I would like it if you _didn't_ touch my books."

His cheery expression shifted to a scolded one. "I'm sorry, I guess I just got carried away."

I sighed. "It's fine. Would you like some tea?" I asked, trying to brighten the mood. He nodded and he followed me to the fireplace. Zander (I think that's what the fox called him) smiled at our presence. He stopped tuning the faded yellow lute and sat it up beside the red brick fireplace. Zander rose from sitting and stood to talk with us.

"Hello, gents. How goes it?" he asked.

The grey wolf smiled, "I was just grabbing some lovely tea that Mr. Snow Wolf made us."

I laughed a bit. "I suppose I never introduced myself. My name is Valb'rgur Azelinus."

The bard looked as if he'd been slapped with a decent sized fish. "How in the world am I supposed to remember that, or better yet pronounce it?"

"If you can't pronounce my Keidran name, just call me Carter Bradford. It's not a direct human translation, but I liked it. Don't worry about calling me by my keidran name, I prefer Carter anyway." I held out my hand for a shake. The wolf took up the offer first.

"I am Caine Rak'dyel. It's a pleasure to meet you, Mister Bradford." He eagerly shook my hand as I nodded.

I turned to the bard who stood to the left of Caine, and I held out my hand once more. He shook his head, "I don't generally shake hands, sorry."

I shrugged and put my hand back to my side and into the pocket of my jacket.

"I'm Zander Richfield. Sorry for the rude introduction, I don't like people touching me. I don't mean anything by it, but it's been an odd fear I've had for as long as I can remember." Zander said.

Liviana walked up to us to join the conversation. "Carter Bradford, eh? That's a very nice name. I am Doctor Liviana Gorwin, it's nice to meet you once more," she joked.

The old fox turned around in his seat to face me.

"Well, if everyone is introducing themselves, I suppose I'm up next on the chopping block..." he grumbled, "I am Sayyaf of the Forest Wolves, formally a diplomat for the Fox Tribes."

"Forest Wolves…?" I questioned with a slight tilt of my head.

Zander grinned and leant in for a whisper, "It a long story. And a boring one." He added, making me laugh. Sayyaf heard Zander, and shook his fist in the air.

"Shut up, Zander!" he yelled. We all burst out in laughter, and Sayyaf crossed his arms in embarrassed anger.

After a few seconds of silence, Sayyaf stood up from the table. He brushed a bit of dust off from his mage robe, his hands getting a bit tangled in the many mana crystals that wrapped his body. I observed his clothing from top to bottom. These crystals were everywhere! I only used a mana crystal bracelet that I had to recharge after a few days of use. Sayyaf on the other hand could probably go months without recharging any of his crystals. I'd guess he wouldn't even recharge them, but rather just replace them.

The fox looked among us. "Well then, are we ready to head off to Whitefield Pass? We should be able to make it there by night if we move now."

Zander nodded, "I am ready. I even got to tune my lute for good measures," he said smugly.

"I think I'm ready as well," Liviana added.

Caine gave a thumbs up and a grin, "I am ready too! Thank you for your hospitality, Carter."

I was a bit shocked at the mention of my name. I have been alone for quite sometime, living out here in the mountains. The only interactions I get are the pesky Templars that arrive every so often to harass me like most other Keidran in that live near the human borders. Very rarely do I ever see regular travelers, let alone friendly ones.

Sayyaf turned to me, "Are you ready to depart with us, Carter?"

I nodded, "Yes, but I must gather a few things. You may wait outside."

Sayyaf shrugged and instructed everyone to follow him. I waited until everyone left to start packing. After the last person left, I dashed to the second floor. I opened my bedroom door to search for a rucksack to put the appropriate belongings for travelling into. I pondered for a moment for what I should pack. I scanned my room for the right objects. I grabbed a brown rucksack that was hidden in the mess of clothes that scattered across my otherwise tidy room.

I walked up to the yellowish-tan dresser that was nestled on the right side of the room. I pulled out clothes that were similar to what I was wearing and laid them on the queen sized bed that was centered in the room. Next to my dresser, there was a thick coat that rested on the side of the dresser. I slid the coat into the pack along with the other clothes and left the bedroom.

Going down the stairs, I took a sharp right and went over to my bookshelf. I took out a petty translation book that my father's diplomats sent me to help me out when I encountered humans or human-speakers. I scrambled through my bookshelf to find more tome books. I already had my favorite one on me, in my jacket pocket.

I exited my cozy cabin and out into the bitter cold. The party I was going to be traveling with was outside already, freezing their tails off. They looked at me with a gleam of hope that they would be leaving soon. I swung the pack that rested in my hand over my shoulder and trudged closer to the group.

Sayyaf looked to me, "Are you ready to go?" he asked. I nodded subtly.

"Well then, let's venture forth. Like I said, we should make it by the nightfall, so we need to stay strong and press on through this horrid landscape," he scoffed.

I was relieved that these people had found me, honestly. I was going to visit Castle Heywood soon anyway to talk some sense into the monster that is my father, but I didn't want to travel alone. As unpredictable as he is, I wouldn't be surprised to get snuck up on by some of his goons and captured. This place is corrupt, and the gods know that I don't want to stay here any longer, especially with my father in charge. I can't wait to see the day when that idiot falls and karma bites him in the rear, and by the gods, I will make sure it is my sword he falls on.


	5. Chapter 5: Gentle Grace

~Liviana~

Our trip through Whitefield Pass went off without a hitch, though it had become bitterly cold with the fast approaching night. The walk through the snow laden trails was familiar, and even nostalgic, though I'd lost my immunity to the cold with my many years away from home.

I was thankful for Caine walking with me throughout the majority of our trip, as I'd grown accustomed to his warmth. It was nice to have someone so kind spirited and open at my side, even if he was a bit naive to the world around him. His cheery nature left me with feelings of warmth and happiness all over, along with… Some other feeling I couldn't really place.

Ever since I'd accidentally brushed his soft and fluffy tail with mine, I felt so strange around him. He left me with feelings that I couldn't understand or let alone explain with any field of rationality, but for some reason I wanted more of this weird feeling. It scared me and excited me at the same time, and I was left with warm cheeks and clammy hands whenever I was around this bright and carefree keidran. It felt almost like I was in a constant fever when I was with him, though for some reason the symptoms seemed far more enjoyable than an actual affliction.

Speaking of a fever, I had a feeling that the lighthearted and joyous keidran was starting to be weighed down by a rather nasty cold. He was usually extremely talkative and uppity, but the last hour or so of our trip had been accompanied only by the sounds of my walking stick hitting against the powdery snow along with his sniffling. I shuffled closer to him as I gently nudged his rough cotton jacket with my elbow, sending a wave of shock through the startled keidran. It seemed like Caine had once again lost himself in the world around him. I smiled as I addressed him, the words flowing naturally in our conversations like an hidden second nature I'd never known about.

"I see I've caught you in another daydream, huh?" I teased at him, his embarrassment shining through his timid steps.

"I guess you have…" he replied bashfully, his voice thick with exhaustion and sickness.

I frowned at the thought of Caine being sick, it didn't mesh well with his personality. After a moment of silence, I returned to my original purpose for talking with the high spirited dreamer.

"Caine, can you see a tree over the horizon?" I questioned lightly, our steps swaying in time with each other.

"Hard to tell in the moonlight. Is it kinda mangled and weathered looking?" he cautiously asked, unsure of where I was leading the conversation. I smiled knowingly and nodded my head.

"When we cross over that hill, we'll be just a few minutes from the castle. Then I can properly treat that nasty cold you've been trying to hide from me," I added with a sly smile as he jumped back a bit.

"I-I don't have a cold..." he weakly protested through a thick and sickly tone of defeat.

I smiled gently at the poor wolf and dug into my inner coat pocket for a small bottle filled with a heavy liquid medicine. The glass bottle chilled my hand as it sat in my palms, freed from my overcoat after a bit of digging. I spoke gently to my disease stricken friend.

"Come now Caine, you know you can't hide your afflictions from a trained doctor, right?" I reassured him, his tail no longer waging, but presumably tucked in between his legs in unwarranted shame.

"And being sick is nothing to be ashamed of! It doesn't mean you're any less of a person than you were before," I consoled him, cheering him up slightly as I moved to hand him the medication.

I touched my hand to his as I offered up the medicine, sending his tail wagging madly again. I smiled at how easy it was to cheer Caine up, requiring nothing more than a bottle of medicine to make him happy once more. Or maybe it was the brief moment that our hands met…

Briefly flustered by the thought of our exchange, I straightened myself out and cleared my throat as I felt Caine examining the bottle beside me.

"That there is liquified Napapia, a potent bulbous plant native to the Basitin Islands. Basitins have a high immunity to poison and sickness, so we rarely have to treat things like colds," I stated informatively, Caine mumbling in understanding.

"When we do get sick though, this little miracle worker never fails to kick it right out of us in a matter of minutes."

Caine whispered in awe at the vial of Napapia as I continued.

"Normally, I would prescribe the whole bottle, but since you're a keidran, I think just a few drops should be enough to get you feeling better until we can stop into the Heywood Clinic and give you a proper check up."

My ears perked up as I spoke, ready to insist that he needed medical attention when he would deny my offer. Instead, he began to wag his tail and excitedly exclaimed, "Sounds good!"

Once again I found myself somehow surprised by his eager agreement, though I should've come to expect this sort of enthusiasm from the happy-go-lucky Caine. I couldn't help but smile as he opened the bottle and lifted it up to let a dew drops fall onto his tongue.

I heard him gag and cough violently the instant the medicine entered his mouth, causing me to bust out laughing. It'd been awhile since I'd last taken the medicine, and I forgot just how awful it tasted. I felt bad for him, but I couldn't help but to laugh at how much he was overreacting.

"On the name of all that is holy, why does that taste so horrid?!" he breathlessly exclaimed, fighting back more gags as he struggled to swallow what little he had taken.

"You alright up there, mate?" Zander called from behind, Caine's display attracting the attention of the others.

"I think I'll be okay, but if I die from poisoning, Liviana is the culprit!" he managed to jokingly choke out through his heavy swallowing and borderline vomiting.

"I told you it was potent," I teased when Caine was stable once more. "Breathe in now though, and I guarantee you'll feel the difference."

I heard him take in a deep breath and exhale slowly, awe stricken once more.

"Wha- What?"

"That's the power of Basitin medicine my friend, it opens you right up so you can breathe again! This is only a temporary solution though, we'll need a little more to treat the fever you're undoubtedly harboring at the moment."

"It's uh… not going to be as bad as the Napapia root, right?" he fearfully questioned, leading me to snicker a bit at his innocence.

"No no, the other medicines should be much less volatile," I assured him as he cheerfully straightened up once more, bouncing happily next to me.

Caught up in Caine's cheeriness and joy, my tail unconsciously drifted over to his and draped across it for a few moments. My heart froze in my chest as my tail lingered longer than it should have, sending all sorts of tingling and powerful sensations coursing through my muscles. I tensed at the strange feeling that formed a lead ball in my stomach once more as I felt the familiar rush of blood seep into my warm cheeks.

Blasted tail! I swear the dumb thing has a mind of it's own sometimes. I blushed furiously in the awkward silence, trying to distract myself from the butterflies in my stomach by fiddling with the wraps around my hands. It of course didn't help in the slightest, and the warmth in my face had risen far past fever strength as I sighed with frustration at these feelings I couldn't understand. This was worse than magic! At least I know what magic is, but these feelings I can't comprehend or even identify!

Pulling me out of my frustrated and flustered state, I felt Caine's tail wag happily against me as he subtly moved closer in the silence. He felt warm at my side, and despite the odd feelings that churned in my stomach when he was close to me, I welcomed his company. He made me both confused and relaxed, happy and fearful. For now though, I lay these conflicting emotions at rest in favor of a relaxing walk through the no longer cold world around me. With this closeness, my nose twitched as I caught a whiff of his pleasant aroma. He smelt earthy, but clean, like a fresh morning dew, or an ocean breeze. I grinned as I walked along side my strange friend. For some reason, the keidran reminded me of my warm memories of home. In just a few minutes, I'd finally be back to my home that I'd left all those years ago.

"You mean to tell me that my parents _specifically_ told you not to close up my office?" I questioned the secretary incredulously.

"That's correct, Doctor Gorwin. Your mother was especially adamant about keeping the office space cleaned and ready for your return, even going so far as to pay rent to ensure no other doctors claimed the office," the secretary nasally stated, her hands preoccupied with the familiar burden of filling out medical records.

I sighed in frustration as I gingerly rubbed my temples. My parents have always been overprotective, but this was almost crossing the line into insanely obsessive protection.

"Did they really expect me to come back home all these years?" I questioned as I plopped my head onto my arms that were strewn over the warm countertop.

"Well… They're technically not wrong," Zander chimed in, only to be met with a cold snarl as I plopped my head back down.

"Parents of yours might be..."

I heard Carter open up some sort of dictionary before he continued.

"Parents of yours might be stingy, but a free room is good for night." Carter struggled to reason with his poor understanding of the human tongue.

"I don't know about the rest of you, but I certainly don't have the coin to cough up the necessary funds for a hotel." Sayyaf added.

"I'd prefer staying here anyhow," Caine gently encouraged, "I don't care for the Basitin footwraps they make you wear in the hotels…"

I sighed heavily and waved away the arguments of the group as I stood up.

"I have every intention of staying here, I just wish my parents weren't so certain that I'd come home. It almost feels like the were planning on me failing this whole time." I lamented quietly to myself. Caine patted my shoulder lightly, making me smile warmly despite myself. I heard Zander ring in from behind us, waving the letter his sister had left for him at the pass up in the air.

"Well you guys feel free to stay here, but I'm going to go meet up with my sister. She's got a room for me rented out in the inn on the other side of town, so I'm gonna head off there now to save save an early morning trip!" he said cheerfully, eager for his long awaited reuniting with his sister.

I heard Carter mumble something under his breath, causing me to perk my ears up in curiosity.

"Did you say something, Carter?" I inquired, leaving him startled that I heard him at all.

"Oh! I uh… I was thinking of family. Though it is more like not having family," He said spitefully, his voice projecting at the ground.

Caine quickly shuffled over to Carter and joyfully sang out with a few pats on the back, "We're all family here, Carter! You're one of us now!" he said innocently, happy to include another member into the "family".

A heavy silence quickly engulfed the room as I coughed, unsure of how to relieve the awkwardness around us. Carter politely broke the silence as he moved away from the others and into the hallway leading to the guest rooms.

"I thank to you, but the word 'family' doesn't mean well," he said offhandedly before heading off in search of an open room.

"And while this company is nice, I'm afraid that the only family I need is my sister, which I have to up and see now!" Zander said as he walked out the door, quickly escaping from the tense atmosphere. Sayyaf followed Zander's lead of dispersing by shuffling down the corridor to the guest rooms. He stopped suddenly before leaving the room, turning to address Caine.

"Don't romanticize our band of travelers, boy. We're no more family than you are a keidran."

He left the room coldly, brooding off to a spare room.

The secretary added after a few moments of silence, "Yikes, that's brutal."

Rage boiled inside me as I marched after Sayyaf and tugged violently at the collar of his jacket, forcing him to turn and face me.

"What's your problem Sayyaf?!" I shouted in his face, my hand entangled in his mana crystals as I clutched his robes in my palm.

"You have no right to call Caine any less of a Keidran because he was raised in human society." I hissed lowly, making sure that Sayyaf would regret ever opening his mouth on the matter. He calmly pushed my hand off from his chest and dusted off before speaking.

"The world's not as innocent as Caine believes it to be, and I refuse to let him think that a disgruntled group of unlikely travelers can ever be anything close to a family."

"Oh really? And you would know this because you're such a family man, right?" I retorted as I crossed my arms, a sceptic snarl forming across my lips.

I felt Sayyaf tense as he inhaled sharply, only to release it and open the door to the guest room.

"You know what Liviana? Maybe you should get to know someone better before you make snap judgements about them. I did have a family once, before the humans came and sold my loved ones into slavery!" he screamed, his volcanic outburst leaving me in shock.

"Sayyaf… I- I didn't know…" I attempted to reconcile, only to be cut off by more shouting.

"Nobody ever does! It doesn't matter though, as long as the humans are happy and get what they want, right?!" His hand slammed against the wall as he screamed.

"They give us some land and a godforsaken peace treaty and think that'll make everything better? Some equality that is, when my brothers and sisters of the forest expend their lives for ruthless human masters only to be bought and sold like livestock!"

I felt his body slump against the doorframe in quiet defeat.

"Not that I can change any of that though. Nothing will change, no matter how many humans I kill, or spare for that matter. There's no point in anything anymore, I'm just waiting for death to come and sweep me off my feet and free me from this hell."

"I- I won't even reach heaven to see her again…" he managed to softly wheeze out before the stone cold keidran broke into soul shattering tears filled with pain and regret.

There was nothing worse than seeing a man as rock hard and calloused and Sayyaf fall into utter despair, his quiet weeping filling the vacant halls. His emotions had shifted so quickly, I was feeling like I'd just taken a punch straight to the gut. The old fox may be a bigot, but even more than that, he was a broken man with nothing left to live for.

Tears began to moisten the wraps around my eyes, forcing me to take them off as I rubbed Sayyaf's violently shuddering back in an attempt to comfort him. I felt the timid steps of Caine approach us as he wrapped us in a warm hug, swaying and humming comfortingly in the small space of the doorway.

After a few minutes, Sayyaf's crying had died down into soft sniffles, and then into nothing. He rose up from the group hug with a worn out sigh, plopping against the doorway once more.

I straightened up as well and wiped my eyes clean, starting to step away from the tired fox. Though there was no doubt in my mind that he was grateful for the company in his time of need, I didn't expect his pride to let him thank us. As I started to move away from him with Caine by my side, he called after us.

"Her name was Andrina."

I glanced back in surprise, Sayyaf's voice barely reaching out of his doorway.

"She was my everything, the most headstrong and free spirited forest keidran I'd ever met. She was captured by trappers before I could confess my love for her, and I never saw her again. Andrina likely never got to taste freedom again, leaving her to die overworked and a slave to a demonic human. From that day forward, I swore I'd kill every last human that I met, but in the end, I became no different from the monsters I set out to destroy," Sayyaf concluded, heading back into his room without waiting for a response.

Caine and I sat alone in the hallway, my thoughts spinning wildly around me in the unwelcome silence. I spun around and walked into the examination room, Caine following behind me. I closed the door behind us as I set my eye wraps on the table, allowing me to freely retie my undoubtedly ridiculously looking ponytail. Caine gasped in surprise, causing me to jump back a bit.

"Liviana! Your eyes!" he exclaimed excitedly, confusing me beyond all belief.

"What about my eyes?" I asked slowly, unsure of what he was so startled by. I blinked a few times as I remembered that this was the first time he'd seen me without my wraps on.

" _Oh great, I'm probably going cross eyed or something,"_ I thought to myself as I shook my head. It was already bad enough that I'd been crying just a few minutes ago, I probably looked like an idiot. Caine quickly jumped up to me and came dangerously close to my face, startling me once more. His life filled aroma quickly filled my nose with the closed distance between us, making my nose twitch with the inviting scent.

"I've never seen such a beautiful shade of violet in my life!" he joyfully observed, sending a wave of relief through my body. I'd never much shown my eyes to anyone before, so it was good to know someone was so mesmerized by them. He leaned in closer, causing his warm breath to wash over my face. I fidgeted in embarrassment with how close we were standing, and blood began to rush into my face once more.

Thankfully, Caine bounded away from me after a few seconds of closeness that left me feeling shaky and sweaty palmed once more. He jumped up onto the examination table as I felt inside the medicine cabinets for my specially labelled bottles. I pulled out a vial of crushed willow flowers and drew a glass of water, shaking a few of the dried petals into the lukewarm cup.

"I don't think I've ever seen anyone so excited to get a checkup!" I giggled as I stirred the willow into the water.

Caine bashfully laughed as I offered the drink up to him, giving it a test sip before drinking the rest of it.

"Well, it's not so much the checkup I was so happy about…" he trailed off as I washed out the glass, placing it back on the counter.

"I was happy to be able to spend some time with you," he admitted quietly, restoring the butterflies in my stomach once more. Gah! Why did this sweet hearted keidren make me so confused all the time!?

I gritted my teeth and plowed through the scrambled emotions in my head, determined not let the feelings I couldn't understand keep me from doing what I did know.

"I'm happy to spend time with you too, Caine," I replied with a cool tone, though on the inside, I was still lost as ever in my feelings. I heard his tail wag wildly as I said this, causing me to break out into an uncontrollable smile.

I lifted my hands to his face as I checked for a fever. He was certainly quite warm, but I had a sneaking suspicion that the warmth across his cheeks wasn't from a fever.

"H-Hey Liviana…" he whispered timidly as I ran my hands slowly across his forehead down to his neck and lymph nodes.

"Yes?" I questioned, engrossed with his increasing pulse .

"What's your opinion on love?" he asked in a barely audible sigh, leaving me perplexed as I stood in front of him. What did I think about love?

"Well," I started, "I think that love is something that's hard to understand, but I've always thought that being in a relationship would be nice."

Caine shifted nervously as I lifted my hand from his forehead to his fiery cheeks, his blush reminding me of my own growing heat across my face.

"I uh…" Caine trailed off, unsure of his own words.

He leaped from the examination table and straight in front of me, swiftly cupping my hands in his as he desperately cried out.

"I know this probably sudden, but it's driving me crazy trying to hide my feelings around you! I really like you Liviana, and I want to be your boyfriend!" Caine exclaimed, making my heart leap up in my throat.

Oh gods, I couldn't think straight with Caine touching me. My cheeks burned with a bright blush as I turned away, dying for more time to think. I inhaled deeply and released one of my hands from Caine's gentle grip, but I let the other linger idly in his as I spoke.

"Caine," I whispered, giving his hand a gentle squeeze.

"I think…. I think I might be feeling the same thing you are," I admitted, sending his tail wagging out of control once more.

"But!" I warned with a stern waggle of my finger, "If we are going to go through with this, we take it slow, okay?"

Caine eagerly agreed and began affectionately running his thumb across the back of mine as we held hands. He must not have been new to holding hands, because his gentle touch sent a flood of happy tingles through my arm. Feeling someone else's hand in mine was something that I hadn't experienced since I was little as I held onto my father's hand as he guided me through the city. It was nice to finally feel that connection with someone again.

"Another thing too, Caine," I cautioned as I released his hand from mine, "I don't want to put a label on our relationship as it stands… Let's not say that we're dating yet, okay? I want sometime to come to terms with my feelings for you, since I've never had someone like you before in my life." I stated this as a half fact, half compliment to the innocent and loving keidran I would soon call my own.

"Aww!" he exclaimed excitedly, scooping me up fo a tight and unexpected hug that took my breath away in surprise. He plopped me back onto the ground and left me in a daze as he spoke once more with his alluring husky voice.

"I accept all of your generous terms, and I can't wait to see what the future brings!" he brightly announced, causing me crack a warm smile.

"Good," I flirtatiously replied as I lifted my hand to his face and patted his plush fur a few times. It was as soft and luscious as an elegant pillow.

We stood in warm silence for a little while, just basking in each other's presence. I yawned from the overwhelming warmth and comfort of the seemingly ordinary examination room, and Caine chuckled at me.

"Hmm?" I questioned sleepily as I felt my way over to the counter to pick up my eye wraps to take to my room.

"Oh nothing, just the way that your ears perk back when you yawn is cute," he warmly complimented me, sending me into another wave of blushing and messing with my hand wraps as his tail beat against the wall loudly behind me.

"Well, that yawning isn't just for attracting mapmakers," I drowsily teased, taking off my overcoat and draping it on the hook that protruded off from the door.

"I am actually quite tired," I sighed, leaning against the cold marble surface of the counter.

Caine quietly came beside me and leaned on the counter as well.

"We should probably get to bed then. Shall I walk you to your room?" he questioned eagerly.

"Oh no, I'm fine. I can make my own way down the-" I started to turn down his offer, but then realized that he was offering it as an excuse to hold my hand rather than leading me around like my parents did.

"On second thought, I wouldn't too much mind having you walk me down there." I thoughtfully replied, pretending not to know it was a ploy to hold each other's hands. Caine's tail swished through the air as I offered him my hand, his soft fingers tenderly wrapping into mine. As he guided me down the halls with my eye wraps in one hand and his in the other, I finally felt relief from the wild emotions that whipped up like a whirlwind inside of me whenever he was around. It's funny to think that a little bit of puppy love was all it took for me to realize what my feelings were for the delicate keidran.

When we reached my room, we exchanged a tight hug and brief goodnights before I closed the door. I leaned against the wall and listened to the happy humming and dance like rhythm of his steps fade away from me before I tucked myself into bed. I harbored a secretive smile into my pillow as I drifted off into another world. It had seemed I'd exchanged the necessity for one cane in my life for another.

And I knew how hard it was to live without my Caine.

~Caine~

With the sun shining brightly on my back, it seemed as if Heywood was trying to trick me into believing it was summer. The warmth from the sky couldn't come close to the warmth that my beloved Liviana gave to me whenever I thought of her though, the memories of last night filling my mind as we ate breakfast that morning. I missed the soft feeling of her touch on my hand as I walked her to her room, but I figured it was for the best that we didn't focus on our relationship right now. The grim mission of Caine and Sayyaf to save an entire castle from an onslaught of snow wolves weighed heavy in the air. None of us ate very much, and what little we did eat was accompanied by silence around the table. Sayyaf looked distant as he half-heartedly ate his meat, and Carter had finished his in a matter of minutes, much to his embarrassment as he saw how little we had eaten since he scarfed his down.

After breakfast, we split into two different groups. Sayyaf and Carter were to talk some sense into Carter's father if there was any left in him as me and Liviana went to go meet her parents. Splitting apart at one of the many crossroads that dotted through the miniature kingdom, Carter went over the plan once more.

"We leave now?"

"Yes, but we'll meet at the clinic once you two have finished your negotiations. I imagine you and Sayyaf will want to head off to see your father as soon as possible, so I won't keep you any longer than I have to," Liviana explained, Sayyaf translating what she said into keidran to help him better understand.

"It's been good travelling with you Carter, best of luck to you," she stated as she held out her hand for Carter to shake. He nodded and returned the gesture as she turned to address Sayyaf.

"Sayyaf, I know it's probably not important to you, but if there's any possibility to save Heywood from destruction… Everyone here would be greatly in your debt, especially me," she bargained, casting her head down.

Sayyaf turned away from her and looked distantly onto the horizon.

"I'll do what I can, but I can't promise anything. The war has already begun in the minds of the citizens. Everyone walks around with their weapons prepared to kill at a moment's notice, and there's no doubt that our snow brethren are the same way. Peace may not be an option at this point."

"I'll do what I can here as well," Liviana agreed, her tone as somber as the gray stone buildings that surrounded us in the square.

"Stay safe Liviana," Sayyaf cautioned with a worried smile, his eyes shimmering with genuine care.

Liviana stepped ahead to him and wrapped him into a warm hug among the bustling city, surprising the fox before he pulled her in and closed his eyes.

"You do the same, Sayyaf," she replied after they broke, causing a sad smile to form across my lips. Goodbyes were as sobering as waking up abandoned and alone on a cold riverbed. especially when it was shared with people you may never see again.

Sayyaf turned to me and gave me an uncertain smile, addressing me as if he was reciting something rather than talking.

"Caine, I want to apologize for last night. We're all in this together, and I think that's enough to constitute us as some sort of family."

My tail wagged wildly as I swept the fox into a big hug that set him off balance and once again surprised. I wordlessly put him down and gratefully smiled at his tall figure, as he coughed awkwardly. I then set my sights on Carter for a hug as his eyes widened in fear as I turned to him. He panicked and yelled something in keidran before I swept him up too, leaving him stunned and turned to stone in my arms.

"Goodbye guys! I hope we can see each other again soon!" I called out as we left the square, my steps bounding gracefully over the piles of snow that drifted onto the neatly paved streets.

After a while of walking along with Liviana, she perked her ears up at me and smiled, making me blush a tiny bit as she spoke.

"The first order of business is paying my parents a visit, I'm sure they've been worried sick about me."

"I'm sure they are! When I was a slave for a few years, my parents were worried sick about me!" I happily announced, causing Liviana to drop her mouth open and stop in her tracks.

"What?" I questioned fearfully, worried that something was wrong.

"You were a slave?"

"I was… I hope that doesn't devalue me to you," I sighed, staring at the ground with cheeks burning from shame as I tugged at my scarf. Liviana quickly cleared up my misconceptions as she desperately took up my hand and frantically spoke.

"Oh no no, not at all! I didn't mean for it to sound like that, I was just surprised that you were a slave because you were so educated and intellectual."

She reassured me with a stroke of her tail against mine, sending it wagging out of control once more.

"Funny thing is, that's actually the reason I'm so well read." I explained, raising up my free hand as I painted out my story in front of me with my hand motions.

"You see, when I was just a little one, I liked to adventure out from the encampment a lot on my own despite my parent's warnings since we were so close to the human boarders. Sure enough, fate eventually caught up to me, as I was caught and sold to a rather wealthy human lady who lived alone in her mansion. She was a sweet and kind old lady named Silvia, and she treated me like I was her own child. I worked there as her personal servant for almost three years, and during that time she taught me how to read, write, and fluently speak in the human language, effectively allowing me to learn about the world through her library." I paused to softly press my thumb against Liviana's as I caressed her hand, instantly being rewarded by her bright smile and her nimble fingers interlocking with mine for the first time.

"It certainly sounds like Silvia was a very kind woman." Liviana concluded as she tapped forwards on the ground with her cane.

"She was." I agreed, continuing with my story.

"Unfortunately though, Silvia was old, and she passed away with me being the closest thing that she had to an heir. She left the entire mansion for me if I wanted to stay there, but I felt a strong desire to return home, if only to say goodbye to it. After spending so long engrossing myself in human culture and traditions, it seemed impossible to return to the life I once lived. When I returned to the camp, my parents were disgusted by how I'd adopted the way of the humans. My mother couldn't look me in the eyes, and my father ran me out of the village, saying that he would've rather thought that I died a true keidran than to know what I'd become." I finished, dipping my head down in sorrow as Liviana squeezed my hand with startling strength as she encouraged me.

"What do they know? Without experience outside of their own village, they had no room to judge. The human's way of life might've just fit you better, and that's that. Nobody can tell you who you are, you get to decide that for yourself" She argued, restoring some of my resolve.

"True. I was broken after hearing that though, and I sat by the river I'd been trapped at and cursed the world from the anger in my heart. I tore through and broke anything I could find in a blind fury until collapsed and cried for ages it'd seemed. As I walked home in the sunset though, the beautiful scenery of the forest gave me a life changing revelation. I didn't have to chose to identify with humans or keidrans, but rather, I could combine the two and recreate myself and what I stood for. I chose to keep my keidran last name and my human name that Silvia called me by, and from that point on, I've been striving to find the balance between human rationalism and pursuit of knowledge and keidran spirituality and connection with nature." I proudly concluded to a cheerful and wide smiling Liviana.

"Geez, I almost wish that my past was that colorful!" She huffed with slight jealousy, playing with my hand as she spoke.

We walked together for a while before Liviana spoke in a gentle whisper.

"Caine, can I admit something to you?"

"I'm all ears, dearest," I replied with careless ease, completely forgetting that Liviana and I had just started our relationship together. I blushed brightly as I checked Liviana to see if the nickname had caused any sort of reaction. She stepped closer to me and smiled widely, feeling my worry through my touch.

"Dearest huh?" she investigated to my blushing and sheepish walk. After a moment of thoughtful contemplation, she pulled me to her and smiled.

"I like it," she stated plainly, relieving me.

"Speaking of which, back to what I was about to admit,," she breathed, slowing down her walking pace as we turned down a constricted street.

"Since I was born blind, my parents always made sure I was under their watchful eyes. I love my parents, but I've long butted heads with them about how I can live independently. Things might get a little tense if they decide to lecture me when I get there, but I don't want you to get the wrong idea about my family," she lamented as she lead me to a two storied house made of faded, square cut cobblestone.

"Or more importantly, me," I caught her add under her breath.

"Speaking of which, here's my old house!" she announced, proudly patting one of the protruding stones as she adorably perked her ears, making me smile at her display.

"Watch your step on the top stair, I can't tell you how many times I've fallen down these things trying to balance on this stonework," Liviana cautioned, leading me up the stairs with her guiding hand.

Liviana beat the faded wooden door a few times, releasing my hand and stepping back in wait for her parents to answer. I saw a shadowy figure slowly make its way across one of the brown draped windows that dotted along the stone house. Liviana stood straight at attention as her ears twitched and honed in on the sounds of the figure making it's way to the door. She held one hand in the other behind her white overcoat as she politely waited for the door to open. I smiled as I stood slightly behind her, figuring that the militaristic stance she assumed was a born instinct for all Basitins.

The wooden door opened wide as a short and elderly Basitin woman answered, her stout body hunching over as she adjusted her spectacles to clarify her view as she squinted her slightly glazed dim yellow eyes. Her eyes flew open wide with recognition and surprise as her jaw dropped in disbelief.

"Livi?" the woman called out incredulously, perking up her ears to reveal her many different colored earrings in various shapes and sizes that dotted along the sides of them.

Liviana perked her ears as well in excitement as she wrapped the short lady in a tight hug.

"Grandma!" she exclaimed happily, her grandma's beaded bracelets clacking together noisily as she wrapped her arms around Liviana and kissed her affectionately on the forehead as they broke from their embrace.

"I can't believe you're finally back after all this time, Livi!" she clapped, her deep maroon colored robe decorated with an elegant leaf pattern dancing with with her numerous necklaces at her movements.

"Yeah, it's sort of a surprise thing for me too,"

"Almost three years away from home without a single visit to your poor old grandmother, you should be ashamed!" she teased, lightly pinching at Liviana's cheek.

"Hey now! I sent letters!"

"That is no excuse, missy! I've been worried sick about you since you left, and you know how hard it is for me to read those tiny words!" the grandma jokingly lectured, swinging her feathered and beaded cane that reached above her head around as she talked.

"I know, I know… I was just worried that if I came back, Mom and Dad wouldn't let me leave again," Liviana sighed, worried once more by the overprotective nature of her parents.

"Mmm, I understand. I love Olive just as much as Gill does, but those two together are too paranoid about the world. I personally think that girl needs some time off in the real world to see that it's not as bad as she thinks, poor woman hasn't seen a mile past Heywood since she was little. Well actually, I suppose that's not true anymore," she added thoughtfully, making Liviana tilt her head with curiosity.

"Not anymore?"

"Oh, they didn't tell you?" her grandma questioned back, tapping her tall cane against the doorway.

"Your father decided that it was high time to take Olive out to see the world, so they went on a bit of a vacation off to see the Basitin islands and a few other landmarks on the way down there. I'm glad they're taking the trip, Olive needs some exposure to the sun before her coat gets as thick as the clouds in the sky."

"Of course they'd choose the one time I come and visit to take a vacation…" Liviana mumbled underneath her breath.

"Well, I'd rather have Caine meet you anyhow," Liviana announced, bringing her grandma's investigative eyes to me as I brought myself up from the step below so she could see me clearly.

"Oh my goodness, what a tall and handsome young keidran you are!" she exclaimed, stepping forwards to inspect me.

Her hand shot to my jaw as she brought my head down to her level for a proper look. I nervously smiled as she twisted my head from side to side and gave me a few pats on the cheek, her stern and interrogative look melting into one of welcoming and invitation.

"My, I don't think I've ever seen a healthier coat of fur since the days back in my prime!" she complimented, giving me an approving nod before addressing Liviana.

"It's good to know you've developed some taste in men since you've left Livi, this one's a real cutie!" she declared, sending Liviana into startled embarrassment.

"G-Grandma!"

"What?" she defended, shrugging her shoulders.

"I'm just being honest here! It's quite obvious you two are a bit of an item," she said with a clever wink to me as Liviana lay helpless on the sidelines to her grandma's eccentricity.

" _Grandma!"_ Liviana hissed, becoming cutely flustered beyond belief.

"Many years of people watching have made me keen on seeing into the hearts of strangers," she explained to me, ignoring her granddaughter's pleas.

"Anyways, its nice to meet you young man! You can call me Grandma Gorwin."

"It's good to meet you too, Grandma Gorwin!" I replied, trying to keep my tail from wagging too much as I watched Liviana hide her face in embarrassment from the introduction.

"Well, don't just stand out there like bumps on a log ladies and gentlemen! We've got plenty of talking and catching up to do!" Grandma Gorwin announced, leading us inside with her bobbing stick.

Before we entered the door, I cautiously brushed Liviana's leg with my tail, unsure if she was comfortable with showing affection around her family. I blushed softly and gushed with happiness as she discretely ran her tail back over mine, playing with her wraps as she came inside. I breathed in the cozy surroundings of the house and smiled, preparing for the barrage of questions that Liviana's lovely and talkative grandma would most likely throw at me. I idly wondered what sort of amazing stories Grandma Gorwin had to tell as I shut the door behind me, locking out the frigid air and basking in the inviting family atmosphere of the Gorwin household. The conversation ahead was looking to be enjoyable, and I had no doubt that from one Gorwin to another, there were hours of discussions to be had.


	6. Chapter 6: First Blood

~Zander~

"Reading an economics book, eh? I thought you didn't read?" I questioned Amelia as we walked alongside her brown coated horse.

"Not usually, but if I ever plan on building my brawling arena on my personal island, then I'll need to know how to properly manage a business," she responded heartily, shifting her dirty blonde hair out of her eyes.

"You're really not giving up on that idea, huh?" I asked, casually tossing the book into her satchel.

"Hmph, at least I have a dream. Can you say the same, bard boy?"

I rolled my eyes with a smile and patted the large bag at my side, stuffed with what little musical books I could scavenge from the basitin's skeleton of a library. Looked like we weren't the only ones who knew that the city was in danger.

"Yeah, miss brutal bruiser, I do."

I smiled knowingly, inciting a sceptic look from her deep brown eyes, accompanied with a smirk.

"And you're not going to share?"

"Not with you," I teased, sticking my tongue out at her as she sighed and shook her head with a smug smile.

"Come on Zander, even though you look like a twelve year old doesn't mean you have to act like one," she teased back.

"I don't look like I'm twelve!" I shouted, Amelia gripping at her steel plated stomach as she released a guttural laugh.

"Sure thing, short stack!" she laughed out, leaving me huffing with frustration. After a while we both settled, and Amelia gently patted her horse with her gauntleted hand.

"Are you about ready to head up out of here, Zander?"

"You already have everything you need?" I asked suspiciously.

"Yeah, the caravan I was guarding ran out of money to pay me with, so they're on their own now. I'm almost glad, that dirty keidran smelled," she added with malice.

I flinched at her blunt tone, realising for the first time how her words were wrong after personally knowing keidran.

"Well, not all of them smell," I defended, Amelia giving me a strange look as she turned around.

"Most of the ones I've seen have, and I know for a fact they all smell when they're wet," she retorted, her brown eyes investigating me as if I had something stuck in my teeth.

"Since when did you become so fond of our furry neighbors?"

I scratched my chin thoughtfully as I frowned, unsure myself.

"I feel like after knowing some of them on a personal level, commenting on them like that just seems… wrong. Ignorant, actually," I explained, Amelia pulling back her lips in a contemplating frown.

"Ignorant or not, I don't believe I'll ever meet a good smelling keidran."

"Because you know _so_ much about smelling good," I sarcastically added.

"Well, at least I know how to wash using more than just river water," she countered, causing me to sigh with frustration.

"Not all of them bathe in the river Amelia, and besides, a lot of humans do that too you know. In some ways they're the same as us, and in others, they're different," I hopelessly tried to reason against her stubborn nature.

"Yeah, they're different all right." she sarcastically commented, keeping her backside to me as we argued.

"Different isn't necessarily a bad thing."

She shot a glance to me with a smug smile as she made her next comment.

"I suppose so. After all, if there wasn't difference in the world, I wouldn't have my weird little lute playing brother."

She smiled and whipped back around, my glare piercing through her the whole time.

"If we meet the group I was travelling with, then I'll introduce you to Caine," I bargained, Amelia tilting her head with curiosity.

" If it means _that_ much to you, I suppose I don't mind staying around to meet your friends."

We smiled at each other as she gave me a playful punch to my shoulder when I caught up with her.  
"By the way you talked of them last night, I'd assume they're quite an interesting bunch. And you said the blind one was a Bastalian?" she asked with genuine confusion.

"Basitin," I corrected, "they're different from keidrans."

Amelia grunted in distaste as we walked.

"I almost miss the days when it was simpler just to say that anything that had fur was an enemy…" she complained as I rolled my eyes.

"You're blunter than a brick to the head sometimes," I sighed as we walked along the snow covered streets of Heywood in search of my friends.

"Is that them?" Amelia asked as she pointed to a small huddle of young gossipping basitin girls.

"Not every group of living things are my friends, Amelia."

She shrugged her shoulders and said with a smirk, "You never know!"

I rolled my eyes and leaned on her horse, my feet tiring from exploring the numerous streets of Heywood.

"What about that couple over there? It's a keidran and a basitin," she stated. I didn't even bother to look anymore, these were just getting ridiculous.

"Nope, none of my friends are in a relationship, thankfully," I responded with relief. Love was overrated and frankly uncomfortable for me to be around, so I was glad that it hadn't affected any of us.

"Zander!" I heard the overly excited voice of Caine cry out as I instantly snapped my head to where he was shouting from, my stomach dropping as I pieced together what was happening.

" _Oh gods no…_ " I thought to myself as my eyes darted immediately to Liviana and Caine's hands interlocked before he released her to come running to me for a hug. So much for avoiding romance.

Caine rushed forwards and warmly wrapped his arms around me as I stiffened, gently pushing him away from me.

"Hey there Caine," I smiled, his eyes shining brightly as I brushed off and Liviana straggled behind him.

"No touching, remember?" I reminded him as he sheepishly looked to the ground.

"Oh yeah, sorry…" he mumbled, Amelia chiming in beside me.

"Don't worry yourself any about Zander, he's a bit of a stickler with touching. Actually, he's pretty much just a stiff neck in general," Amelia teased as I huffed. She's such a pain sometimes.

"He's probably less of a stiff neck then the officials of Heywood, I'm not looking forwards to dealing with them," Liviana commented, stepping up to shake Amelia's hand.

"I'm Doctor Liviana, it's nice to meet you,-?" She paused in waiting for my sister's name.

"Amelia."

"Nice to meet you Amelia." Liviana concluded, letting Caine bound forward to introduce himself.

"I'm Caine! It's really good to meet you Amelia!" he exclaimed as he shook her hand enthusiastically.

"You too, Caine," she said with a smile, leading them into a long conversation. I took this chance to go and talk with Liviana.

"I take it that Sayyaf and Carter have already left for negotiations?" I asked her as she adjusted her eye wraps.

"That they did. They should be back in a few days if everything goes as planned."

"So what were you guys up to? Besides being a couple that is," I added, startling Liviana and making her go pink.

"Oh! I uh, you saw that?" she asked timidly as I crossed my arms and smirked at her.

"Plain as day. Better sooner than later though, I suppose," I added calmly. They might not be so bad together, so long as they were decent around me.

"Yeah… It'd be hard to keep it a secret anyhow."

Her blush grew with her smile as she straightened out and trained her ears to Caine and Amelia talking.

"I never thought I'd be one to find romance, especially with someone as lively as Caine."

I blew some hair out of my face and smiled a bit myself.

"Yeah, he's quite a bubbly wolf. A bit much for me, but you seem to keep him in check. Speaking of which, you never answered my question," I reminded.

"Ah yes, we went and paid my grandmother a visit. We talked for quite some time, I didn't realise just how much I missed her. We just bumped into you guys on the way to go report to the war general about Carter."

At this, Amelia snapped her attention towards us and the mention of the basitin general.

"A war general you say? I didn't know Basitins had one of those…" she trailed off, enticed with the prospect of violence as she swung over to us.

"Would you like to come along? I think it might be a good idea to bring someone with actual battle experience to bargain with the officials," Liviana offered, Amelia quickly accepting.

"Aha, now that's more my speed!" she declared triumphantly with a heroic smile.

"I will need someone to watch after our stuff however… Zander, are you up for item surveillance until we get back?" Amelia questioned as I plopped myself down onto a large rock.

"Yeah, I guess I'll cover this time. Would someone mind staying back with me though? Lugging this stuff to an inn without a horse is going to be rough alone."

"I can stay back," Liviana offered, "After all, I don't think I'd bring much to the negotiating table. Amelia has combat experience, and Caine has a wide knowledge of the landscape."

Caine shot a sad glance to Liviana as they separated, Amelia giving him a hefty pat on the back.

"No worries, Caine! We should be in and out in no time," she offered with a smile, restoring Caine to his optimistic state.

"Great, we shouldn't be too long then Liviana!" Caine happily announced.

"I know Caine, I'm right here," she replied with a giggle, making Caine flustered.

"O-oh yeah…"

" _Ugh, romance,_ " I thought as I watched them.

"We should get headed out then. See you guys around!" Amelia shouted with a farewell wave as she guided her horse behind her.

"Have fun you two!" Liviana shouted back.

"Don't lose another finger!" I yelled to my sister, an ongoing joke between us after she managed to lose her pinky in a barfight.

Somehow I knew that this wasn't going to be as short of a trip as they promised, so I leaned back onto our supplies and shut my eyes as I spoke with Liviana.

"I doubt this'll be quick," I stated as Liviana laid out beside me.

"I know for a fact it won't be," Liviana concluded, "our meetings never are. I'm honestly glad you asked for someone to stay, I don't want to suffer through another meeting after having to attend them for most of my life."

"Oh you cheeky little bugger, you sent Caine in your place, didn't you?" I smugly asked, met with an equally smug smile from Liviana.

"Let's just say that Caine is doing me an enormous favor with his innocence," she added with a smirk.

" _What a dodgy basitin…_ " I thought to myself as I shared a carefree smile with the doctor. Looks like someone just earned a free afternoon of relaxation and rest.

~Amelia~

"And that's how I fought off three bandits at the same time," I concluded my story to the wide eyed and amazed keidran.

"That's amazing, Amelia!" Caine complemented as I tied Stanford on a tree to keep the horse from running away while we were at the meeting.

"That's not even the half of it!" I proudly declared as we ascended the faded stone stairs to the Military Command Center.

"I'll have to tell you later though. Right now, it's showtime," I announced as I pulled the large marble door with a grunt.

I followed after Caine as he entered inside the marble encased building.

"With all this marble, you'd think that they'd make the stairs outside a bit more pretty," I commented as I closed the door and turned around.

The entire building was made of milky polished marble, with a large four headed fish fountain that spewed water out in a steady stream. Caine walked over to observe the fountain as I looked over the rest of the deserted sanctuary sized room. Two large curved stairways lead up to another large set of double doors, red woven banners hanging along the railing of the stairs. Several tall and slender windows rose along with the stairs, letting in heavenly light beams to brighten the room. Besides the stairs and the fountain, the whole place felt empty and soulless, giving me chills as I walked to the base of the carpeted marble steps.

My steel boots clanged and echoed the the empty room loudly as I ascended, alerting Caine to follow me. I cautiously continued up the steps, my hand hovering over the hilt of my broadsword as I heard distant voices talking beyond the royal red plush doors. I placed my hand on the door and gave it a slow push forwards, allowing the arguing voices from inside to escape. In an instant, the voices subsided as Caine and I entered into the brightly lit room. The dome shaped glass ceiling illuminated five basitin leaders that circled around a large table, a map with strategic military plans laid out in the middle of it.

"Kiar lo mort'neya garza?" a burley and tall standing basitin woman wearing a sleeveless leather tunic asked with hostility in keidran.

I looked to Caine for a translation as all the glares in the room glued to us. He shut his eyes with concentration and slowly responded in keidran, inviting a response from the black haired doctor that stood to the left of what I assumed was the king.

"Boy, that is about the worst attempt at keidran I've ever heard," he commented as he straightened up from the table and brushed a few stray strands from his short slicked black hair to reveal a pair of piercing deep blue eyes.

"Besides interrupting our meeting and butchering the keidran tongue, what are you idiots trying to accomplish?" he questioned with displeasure.

"We 'idiots' are here to bring you crucial tactical advice, _sir_ ," I countered with deadly sarcasm.

"You have intel on the snow wolves?" a shorter basitin clothed in a black leather tunic adorned with a strange symbol and a cloak commented as he fixed his glasses and eyed us with curiosity.

"Master General, even I can see that these people aren't anything close to informants. There's no way that they've come to give us anything besides trouble," the burly general explained to the one short one.

"That's where you'd be wrong, ma'am," I replied, approaching the table.

"I'm sorry, but I doubt you have anything of use to bring to us, child," an elderly basitin wearing a red cloak with a black and red robe underneath kindly replied as she clutched tightly at her staff.

"We've already gathered all the intel we can on the snow wolves, but they're experts at covering their tracks. Until they actually come and attack our city, everything up to that point is speculation. We're not even certain if they plan to attack at all, so attacking first would be committing suicide," she reasoned.

"Well, it's better than being target practice for them!" the buff one said, causing the two of them to glare at each other.

"Not the time," the short one conducted the other two. "What do you have for us?"

Caine pulled out a pen and map from his belt, drawing out the scene.

"Okay, so here's what we know so far," Caine began, all the generals leaning over the table to listen, "the snow wolf leader, uh…"

"Skuli Azelinus," the doctor filled in.

"Yes, him. We briefly travelled with his son, and he informed us that his father planned to send a team of diplomats to the city any day now," Caine explained, mapping out the path of the diplomats to the castle.

"Those damned wolves aren't coming negotiate peace," the doctor bitterly commented.

"Carter, Skuli's son, and another went to go to talk to Skuli for peaceful negotiations," Caine offered.

"That won't matter if they've already got a team heading forward to attack," the short one pointed out.

"Time is running out."

All eyes turned immediately to the king, his low voice speaking for the first time as he rose tall to his feet. Compared to the others, he looked to be a giant with his ordained red cape and shining thick armor suit made of impressively reinforced steel. His eyes glowed a deep red with fiery passion, though his face held several scars and wrinkles of age. His fur was a muddy tan, thinning from old age despite his massive frame. He lacked a physical crown, though one was burned onto his breastplate with crimson artistry. His hardened gaze looked from his advisors until they landed on me.

"Human. The intel you presented will be invaluable if it proves to be true, but there is reason to doubt it. Who are you, and why do you care of our fate?" he interrogated.

"My name is Amelia, and to be honest, what happens to the city isn't very much of a concern to me," I admitted.

"But," I continued, "I've always dreamt of engaging in war instead of doing petty guard duty. I want to offer my services, free of charge if you'd be willing to take me into your ranks."

The king turned to the burly general and spoke.

"Shall we take this human into our ranks, Olus?"

She pondered for a moment before sighing and closing her eyes.

"I'm not crazy about hiring mercenaries into our army, but it would be plain stupid to turn down free help. When we face an army as numerous as the snow wolves, every soldier counts," she advised, the king nodding in understanding as he addressed me.

"You may join us in war, Amelia," he concluded, turning to Caine.

"Keidran. Who are you, and why do you care of our fate?" he questioned as Caine dropped to his knee and bowed.

"Your highness, my name is Caine. I am here on behalf of Livana Gorwin, a former resident in this city."

"Gorwin?" the doctor questioned with surprise, "I remember that girl, she was the blind one I studied alongside of at the clinic!"

"Very well, you may rise," the king ordered.

"Thank you for your respect to our traditions, Caine. It is obvious that you are well learned in our ways, and the Gorwins are a trustworthy family," the elderly one said with a smile as Caine stood up.

The king gave a thoughtful stroke to his lengthy chin fur before speaking to the short general.

"Paltser, rally the troops with Olus. Tenna and I will see to it that those who cannot fight are evacuated," he commanded, Tenna leaning heavily on her staff to join the king.

"Luke, you'll want to alert the doctors of the clinic to prepare for many wounded," the king ordered the doctor with grave responsibility, Luke gently dipping his head in understanding.

"It's time to take action. That tyrant Skuli may think that he can push us off our land, but he's going to have a-"

The large double doors to the conference room opened once more as a very young snow keidran poked her head into the opening.

"H-hello…" she timidly spoke, holding her hands behind her back and looking to the ground.

"I-I am here to a-announce the arrival o-of the High C-council of the snow wolves…" she nervously stated, avoiding the eyes of everyone in the room.

Tenna left the king's side and slowly walked towards the young keidran, tilting her head and smiling as she sweetly spoke.

"Hello there, young one. It's quite brave of you to announce the council to us, we appreciate your courageous actions. There's no need to be scared of us," she reassured as she approached the young keidran.

The snow wolf looked timidly at Tenna with a small smile as she neared.

"Argh-!" the king suddenly screamed, my eyes darting to him to see him clutching an arrow sticking out from his neck. He fell heavy to the floor as a snow keidran emerged from a cloaking spell and drew back another shot, this time aiming for the glass ceiling.

I immediately unsheathed my sword, the other generals doing the same as the glass ceiling shattered, showering the marble room with glass.

"What the hell?" Luke screamed, covering his head as ropes flew through the holes and five more black robed snow wolves joined the one that had shot the king.

"Assassins!" Olus shouted, the wolves dropping from the ropes and charging to the other officials.

In a matter of seconds, wolves were upon basitins like vultures on a rotting carcass. Caine stood in shock as I shoved past him to kick an assassin off of Luke, throwing him to the ground. A hot blast of fire streamed past me, missing me by mere millimeters as the wolf scrambled to his feet. I charged with a yell, chopping my blade easily into the flesh of his shoulder, making him collapse forwards onto his hands and knees.

" _Nng- gah haargh!_ " he wailed, clutching his injured shoulder with his good hand.

I stood over him for a moment as he looked up to me through watery eyes, his body shaking with pain and fear. I contemplated ending him right there, but I lowered my sword and drove my steel plated boot sideways into his jaw instead, effectively incapacitating him as he lay in a silent crumpled heap on the ground.

Amidst the chaos and sounds of magic flinging and sword fighting, I glanced over to the doorway and saw the little girl from earlier swinging a gleaming dagger furiously at Caine who was clumsily dodging her swings in a blind panic. Tenna lay in a pile of her own blood behind them, her neck having been slit open by the bloodied knife that was slicing at Caine. Not good.

I charged forwards to the pair, my heavy boots pelting into the floor with force I didn't even know I had within me. I launched myself forwards into the snow wolf, only to see the dagger sink into Caine's side just before tackling the girl as he let out a painful yelp. We slid across the slick floor, the girl flailing wildly as I pinned her down.

"Grraaahhhh! Release me you filthy human!" she screeched, her eyes wide and crazed as she tried to claw at me from underneath my powerful grip. I quickly launched myself off of the wolf and pulled her by her hair into a choke hold, her legs swinging out in protest as she screamed. I flexed the inside of my elbow to her throat as she choked and sputtered, eventually going limp from lack of oxygen. I tossed her aside and scanned across the room quickly for any other danger.

It looked as if the action had died down, as no one was actively fighting anymore besides Olus, who was finishing off the crippled assassins. Bodies lie lifeless on the floor in a mix of blood and glass, and only a few were standing, including me, Olus, Luke. The room fell quiet, only the sounds of heavy breathing and painful gasping coming from the survivors.

"Caine?" I saw the gray furred keidran shaking violently as his eyes stared open wide at the hilt of the dagger that was poking out of his side at a tilted angle. His stare was glued to the invasive knife as he shakily leaned on the table. He was borderline hysterical as shallowly breathed in short, panicked bursts. As I approached him, his eyes filled with fear and his hands shakily pointed to hilt of the knife poking out from just above his belt.

"I-is this a k-knife?" he breathlessly stuttered, his eyes staring desperately at me as approached.

"You didn't feel yourself being stabbed?" I asked as I eased towards him.

He looked down at his wound and began to pass out at seeing the growing blood stain that spread across his white shirt. I darted forwards and caught him in my arms, letting him fall gently to the floor as I sighed. This is exactly what I didn't want happening. If the sight of his own blood was enough to make him pass out, then I can't imagine what it'd be like if he had to fight off bandits on his own. Some people, I swear.

I stood up to see Olus driving her sword into the back of a wolf who was crawling away on her forearms. She released a dying cry as Olus dug the blood soaked blade further into her spine with brutal hatred.

"Who is alive?" Olus shouted, searching around at the bloodied room.

"I'm here, but I'm wounded!" Luke responded, wrapping a loose hanging, blood soaked arm with his good one.

"I'm all good!" I announced, kneeling over Caine as I spoke.

"Luke, I'll need your assistance when you're done," I requested, the basitin nodding as he started walking towards us while he worked on himself.

"Master General?" Olus called out without a response, looking desperately around the room in a frenzy.

"Paltser!" she cried out, her eyes locking onto the body hunched against a wall as she dropped her sword and ran to his side.

Luke arrived as he created a makeshift sling with his overcoat, giving shake of his head as he saw Caine.

"Passed out, huh? That can happen if you've never seen the insides of you on the outside," he stated as he inspected the knife.

"Help me stand him up would you? The knife doesn't look like it hit anything major, but depending on how long that blade is, we'll be having some issues if he moves very much from the position he was in when he earned his new friend here," he commented with a small smile at his own joke. We lifted Caine off the ground as he began to stir with consciousness once more.

"Mmm?" he moaned as we moved him, unconsciously feeling to the knife before looking down in a blind panic and passing out again at the sight of his blood.

"Wow, really?" I questioned as his body fell limp once more.

"We're going to have to get this knife out of him if we want him awake for more than a few seconds. I can't properly treat him like this, and that nasty bit of blood loss will be a problem if we don't get him out of here soon," Luke commented.

"Is there a clinic nearby? I can take us on my horse," I offered as Luke nodded his head in agreement.

"There's a clinic on the other side of the city. A horse will be good, though we'll need to take it slow to avoid jiggling the knife."

"Olus!" Luke shouted, the burly basitin remaining silent as she sat on her knees with Paltser's body nestled between them.

"I'm taking the forest keidran to the infirmary, are you coming with us?"

"No…" she quietly replied with her back turned to us as she gently ran fingers through the general's cheek fur. "I'm staying with Paltser."

"He's alive?!" Luke replied with awe, nearly dropping Caine as he whipped around to look.

Olus turned to us with tear stained cheeks to reveal a long sword protruding out of Paltser's lower abdomen, blood soaking through his clothes. The Master General shot us a weak smile, his eyes moistened with tears, but peaceful nonetheless. His chest rose and fell in shallow breaths as he clutched tightly to one of Olus' arms, his face smeared with the blood that covered Olus' fingers. Her forehead touched to his as they held each other at a distance to avoid impaling him further, Paltser whispering softly to Olus as their hands interlocked with desperation. Paltser gently licked away her tears as they sat together, Olus' quiet weeping filling the room with an unsettling emptiness.

"Oh, I see…" Luke trailed off, hefting Caine back onto his shoulder and dropping his head in silence. He pushed forward through the door as I trailed behind him, leaving the generals with their final moments together.


	7. Chapter 7: Warmonger

~Carter Bradford~

"Yes, my son, diplomats are on their way to Castle Heywood."

"You're not normally like this… Did you finally realize how terrible of a leader AND a father you've been, and wanted to make things right?"

Father let out a hearty laugh.

"Oh, you are quite the humorous person, Valb'rgur. Or, should I call you by your preferred _human_ name, 'Carter Bradford'?" he spat in disgust.

I growled in anger, revealing my sharp set of teeth, my fist shaking at my side from the humiliation. "You know why I don't use my real name, Father!" I shouted to the posh figure.

"Yes, yes. I know. You want to hide your shame of being a failure. You just couldn't _bear_ to be called by the honorary name of Azelinus, knowing everyone would assume you to be just as good as me," he mocked, pacing around his judge-like stands he and his representatives stood at as he spoke.

"For God's sake…" I whispered, resting my head in my hands. Sayyaf squirmed next to me from the fiery tension that filled my father's court. I felt a bit bad for dragging him here with me, but I knew my father had some valuable information Sayyaf could tell his faction. I was hoping we could possibly make my naive father slip out information accidentally.

"Anyway my son, let's cut to the chase, shall we? We came here to be professionals, so let us be that way, yes?" he said in a posh tone, sipping on red wine from a glass that was placed on his countertop where he sat behind. One of his maids -or should I say slaves- came up to me with a platter filled with wine glasses. I politely declined with a shake of my head. My father and his cabinet may be bastards, but his citizens surely aren't.

"Fine," I mumbled. "I brought Sayyaf of the Forest Wolves with me for his diplomatic past, and also to collect intelle-...erm, to ask a few questions."

"Is he a war veteran? He sure looks the type, if the battle scars and the alcohol on his breath tells me anything…" he said, a mocking smile forming on his muzzle.

"I thought we were supposed to be _professional_ , King Azelinus." he spat back.

My father let out a loud grunt of disgust, and looked away from us. After his short fit, he leaned in to us, with his hands interlocking and resting on the countertop.

"What is it you truly wanted from me, son?" he said, changing his tone to be serious, "We can sit here fighting like children all day, but it won't get us anywhere."

"Good, we got immaturity out of the way" I replied.

"We need a compromise. We know you want to eliminate the Basitin city of Heywood for territorial purposes, but I think instead you should try and negotiate with the Basitins. Since they use our lands, we should have them pay taxes. The Snow Wolves get more money, and the Basitins get to stay. Everyone is happy."

"Yes, that is a good plan, my son. I have already sent some diplomats to 'negotiate' with the Basitins. I hear they are having a meeting today as well. I hope they make it time," he said, slowly starting to laugh softly. His laughter started to get louder, and suddenly his representatives started to laugh with him, all of them equipping a devilish grin. The court was filling with hideous laughter, and I didn't know what to think. I spun around me with fear and anxiety to see what the hell was going on. Sayyaf grabbed my arm and looked me dead cold in the eyes.

"These people are mad. We need to get out of here!" he shouted over the unnerving laughter. He lead me by the arm out of the psychotic laughter of the courthouse and into the streets of Ridgegate. Many people crowded around the court, staring to me with hopeful eyes. The crowd was a mix of Snow Wolves and Basitins, waiting for answers. Sayyaf stopped at the top of the stairs, looking among the horde of citizens with confusion and awe.

"What the hell are all these people doing here?" Sayyaf asked me.

I shook my head unknowingly.

"Your guess is as good as mine," I muttered.

A young Keidran lady stepped in the front of the crowd. She looked up to me on the long stairs, holding her hands to her chest.

"Carter Bradford, the people of both the Snow Wolves and the Basitins from Castle Heywood need your help," she said with a wobbly voice. The crowd behind her cheered in agreement.

"What can I do? I know I'm the King's son, but that doesn't mean anything! It's not like I'm the prince! I'm sure you people know, but my father is the last of five in the Azelinus bloodline that can become King or Queen."

"We know you can't become king," she responded. "We aren't here for that. What we _do_ know is how much you hate that wretched fool. We are here for your help."

"I'm guessing you want me to end my father's reign somehow? Let's face it, that's not going to happen, even if I wanted to. Look, I love to help, but I'm just an inventor. And a bad one, to make it worse. I can't single handedly take down Skuli with just my magic and a petty shortsword," I said, revealing my weapons to show the crowd.

The Keidran looked into my eyes.

"You aren't alone, Carter Bradford. We all are here for your mission. We are the local militia!" she shouted, the crowd become active again.

"They are right, you know," Sayyaf said, softly grabbing my shoulder for attention. "You aren't alone. You have me and the group. We would more than willing to help."

I couldn't help but to smile. My father was cold and terrible person, and to think so many people knew how I felt made me happy. Maybe after all is said and done, I can finally move on from all the pain and neglect he has caused me.

I nodded to the crowd. "I will do as you ask!" I shouted. They all let out a happy cheer once more.

I held out my hand for a halt. "But! I need some time to prepare. When I return, we will be ready for battle! When I am gone, form a plan. We will come back as soon as we get everyone organized."

The young girl stepped closer to me. "Thank you, Carter. We knew you could be trusted. Meet us at the old church house at the edge of Ridgegate. I'm sure you know where that is."

She wasn't wrong. I grew up in the humble little town of Ridgegate with my mother. Of course, my father being the "big bad ruler" he is, he left us in the dust to do what the hell he does. I know what he _didn't_ do, however. He did fuck all for our family, leaving my mother to have to support me.

I exited the trance of thought, and looked down to the young woman who stood only a few inches below me. I never looked properly at her to make any real observations about the girl, as I was too busy rallying the crowds that were brought to me. Everyone started to separate from the small crowd and returned to their normal lives, flooding the streets every which way. The only person that remained of the crowd was the girl next to me.

She looked into my eyes with her own. They flashed a brilliant silverish-blue that I couldn't help but stare into. She held my wrists with her soft hands and proceeded to speak.

"I can't thank you enough, Carter," she said with a relieved smile, tears building in her eyelids.

I shook my head slightly, "Don't mention it. I'm glad the people feel the same as I do. Say, are you the leader of this resistance group, Miss…?"

"Vera Sullivan," she announced with a gentle smile, "And yes, I am the leader of some sorts. I help run this group with a few other folks, but I'll discuss them later."

I looked at her with uneasiness. How could such a sweet girl lead this mob? Chills rippled down my spine from the thought.

Sayyaf stepped in beside me and leaned into my field of vision. I jumped back a bit at the sudden blockage of my sight. My cheeks lit up with a red color, and I pushed Sayyaf back, not putting a lot of force into my rude gesture.

"Can't you see I'm talking here?" I whispered angrily to the fox, gritting my teeth. He snickered a little, obviously amused with his rather impolite intrusion.

"We need to go, we have other manners to attend to," he ordered, washing out all the childishness that he had succumed to moments ago. I peered back to Vera, looking for approval. She reluctantly gave a nod, looking down at the ground for a moment, then back up again.

"Goodbye, my friends. Please, come back as soon as can be. We need this menace taken care of. For all of us."

Those words struck me harder than an arrow. I felt as if a metal ball had sunk into my stomach. _This people are more desperate than I am_ , I thought in despair.

Sayyaf caught my attention once more, "Don't worry, Carter. These people will be fine. I'm sure Zander, Liviana, Caine… Hell, all of them will help! Even if they don't, you've got my support. Not even as a spy, but as a friend."

Tears started to flow slowly from my eyes. I couldn't help but smile at the unconditional love that came from these travelers. Why help a low-life inventor, especially if that involves putting them in danger _AND_ eliminating one of the world's most powerful person?

I threw my arms around Sayyaf and squeezed tightly. He hesitated at first, but slowly he returned the hug gently. We stood there for a few moments, just hugging. It was nice, to finally have friends again. I spent so much time hiding away from my shame and neglection, that I forgot what it even meant to live. I think this was it, to be honest. Just having people to rely on through thick and thin.

Sayyaf slowly released the hug. I did the same and wiped the tears from my eyes. I looked down in shame and scratched the back of my head.

"I'm sorry about that. I don't know what came over me…" I tried.

He smiled and patted my shoulder, "Don't apologize. Sometimes, crying is the only way to express and relieve your feelings."

I nodded.

A heavy sigh passed his lips, and he stretched out a bit. "Let's get out of this mess, shall we? I'm getting sick of this place."

"Yes, let's. Should we go find Caine and Amelia, or go directly back to Zander and Liviana?" I suggested.

Sayyaf shrugged and started to walk down the road that led out of this town without warning. I scrambled to follow and catch up with him. I ran through the surprisingly empty streets to get next to his side.

"Wait, Sayyaf!" I shouted behind him, huffing a bit as I spoke. He stopped and allowed me to catch up. "You never answered me!"

He smiled a bit. "Sorry. We are going to see Caine and Amelia. Something tells me that the others will be with them as well."

I nodded in agreement and signalled to press forward. As we started to make our way back to Castle Heywood, I couldn't help but look at the beautiful sunset. It was a magnificent sight, the sky flaring a brilliant red, orange and purple combination that looked like it was from a masterpiece. I smiled at the wonderful sky-show. Something told me everything was going to be alright now. I finally found some good friends, plus for the first time ever, someone besides me wants to see my father gone.

" _I did it_ ," I thought peacefully to myself, " _I'm finally happy_."

~Zander~

" _Wake up, Zander_."

I was rudely awaken by the subtle kick of Liviana's paw-foot-thing. I moaned a bit, shielding my eyes from the blinding light of evening sun. I looked around a bit, scanning my surroundings with squinted eyes. The air was cold and bitter, but I noticed no snow on the ground. A few trees lined the dirt path I laid next to.

"Wha…?" I attempted to say, still dazed from my previous sleeping state. "Where am I?"

Liviana shook her head. I noticed she no longer had her eyewraps on. Probably got sick of them always squeezing her face.

"You've been sleeping for an hour already! I thought you wanted to nap, not go to sleep," she barked.

I looked around a bit more before turning back to Liviana. "Where are we?" I asked again.

"We are in the middle of the road between Northwick Traders and Castle Heywood. You were taking a small nap from all the walking we did. I have been sitting here for forever waiting for you."

I chuckled a bit in embarrassment. "Did I really sleep for that long? Sorry about that, Liviana. Guess I hadn't got much sleep with all this travelling. Is there a way I can make up for this?" I asked.

She slumped down next to me, arms crossed and a grumpy look plastered on her face. She looked down and grumbled, "Some dinner would be nice…"

I looked at her a bit sideways, "Why didn't you just get something from our pack? We have a few pre-made meals."

She gave me a dumbfounded look and shook her head slightly.

"I didn't feel like rummaging around in the bags like a fool," she admitted.

A wash of realization flowed over me like a massive wave. I brought my hand to my face and buried my face in my hands.

"Right… You're blind." I mumbled.

I slowly raised from my sleepy position and shuffled over to our pack. I undid the ties that bound the sack together and looked into the contents of the cloth bag. My hands fumbled through maps, books, a few slips of paper, a pair of glasses, and some oddly placed marbles to get to the wrapped meals. Before continuing the search, I turned to the Basitin doctor.

"What do you want to eat, Liviana?" I asked her.

She turned to the sound of my voice and dropped the pebble she was messing with. "What is on the menu, my chef?" she jokingly asked.

I scanned the selection and turned back to her, "Well, we have some baked potatoes with minced parsley on it, some cooked fish with a side of carrots-" I said before getting cut off by a small squeal of excitement. I looked over my shoulder to see what the commotion was about.

"We have _fish_?" she asked, bouncing a bit as she sat.

"Um… Yes. We do have fish." I responded slowly.

"My gods, it's forever since I've had fish!" she said hastily.

I lifted from the kneeling position I'd been in and took out the wrapped fish. "I'm guessing you want the fish, then?" I asked.

Her happy smile quickly faded, and she cleared her throat. "Yes. I would love to have that fish," she tried to say professionally.

I chuckled at her attempt, sitting down in the process. "Liviana, you don't have to act professional near me. We're friends now! We should act that way." I advised, handing her the still warm fish. " _When did we cook these?"_ I thought to myself.

Liviana unwrapped the fish and started to eat. I took the lute from my back and idly tuned it. It had been a while since I got the chance to play. I slowly turned the knobs on the lute and strummed each string accordingly. I noticed that every time a plucked one of the strings, Liviana's ears twitched a bit.

"Where did you learn to play the lute?" she asked out of the blue.

I straightened out my back a bit before answering. "I'm self-taught, for the most part. I later took classes for it, but that's a different story," I said, waving my hand in the air as I spoke. " Back in one of the many towns I lived in when I was about 9 or 10, I found this old thing just thrown away near my house. I decided to give it some love, and tried to play it.

"After a while of messing around with it, I was onto something. I started making random melodies every so often and remembered them in my head. After about a year's worth of training, I started to play for tips to help out our family. I suppose the bard life just chose me after that."

I looked over to Liviana who was gently eating her food. "I never thought I'd end up like this. What an odd week it has been…" I said softly.

She lifted her head and stopped eating, looking towards me instead. "I'm glad I got entangled in this. It's good to have a break from work and make some great friends like you. It's been forever since I've been away from Farnfoss."

I sighed. "When I grew up, we moved everywhere, so I wasn't used to being tied down to a single location, so it's good to be moving again. The bard job I had paid me very well, so I had to stay in that crumby town for a few years. I'm sure when this is all over, I'll have to go back there and sell my soul back to the damn job."

"You don't like your job?" Liviana asked with a concerned look.

"No, I do, it's just I hate being tied down in a single place. I just want to travel and see the world, you know? Learn music from different cultures and such."

Liviana's eyes lost their normal violet sparkle. She looked down at the ground and sighed deeply.

"I know how that is…" she whispered, choking up. I saw a few tears drop from her clouded eyes to the cold, hard ground below us. I couldn't help but feel bad. She had it worse than I did, since people actually depended on her. My job was to make the drunks and low-lifes happy while they slowly rot in the bar, while her's was to save peoples lives and make sure they live long. Polar opposites, I suppose.

I scooted closer to the Basitin and wrapped my arm around her shoulders without warning. She looked towards me in surprise.

"I thought you didn't like touching…?" she softly questioned.

I smiled. "Just this once." I assured her.

We sat there for a bit, just listening to the cold winds rustle the few trees that dotted the horizon. It was moments like these that I wish I could lock down and come back to when I need happiness and comfort. I could hear her softly breathing below my grasp, sobbing a bit too. I squeezed her shoulder for more comfort.

She giggled a little, "I hope Caine doesn't get the wrong idea about this…"

I laughed too. "No, he'll understand. It's not like this was meant to be romantic at all, because if it was, I'd probably throw up," I joked, "This is what friends do. If they need a shoulder to cry on, than they best give up everything they are doing to be supportive."

"I wish more people were like that," she said with a hint of bitterness.

I nodded. She wasn't wrong at all. Most people hated each other for no reason at all, plus the fact half of the world is still racist, even after that damn war a decade ago.

She slowly stood up, her doctor uniform blowing gracefully in the now picking up wind. She extended her furred hand towards me, looking above me in an odd fashion. I accepted her offer, and we both lifted me off the ground. I stumbled a bit from the sudden lift, but quickly regained my balance.

"I think we spent enough mucking about, so how about we head back to Castle Heywood now?" Liviana suggested.

"Of, course. We should g-" I was suddenly cut off by the sound of a blade hitting wood. It sounded like it came from behind me. It was almost like the sound shook my body. I spun around to see the source of the sound. I was greeted by a sight I didn't want to see.

Bandits.

Everything seemed to be going in slow motion at this point. I saw a handful of bandits, probably four or five of them. One of them, a snow wolf keidran, had already attempted an attack, except my lute had blocked charged at me, but I felt frozen. One of them had grabbed Liviana, and was now desperately fighting him off and screaming. I felt a sharp prick in my shoulder that sank deep into my flesh. Immediately after that, a large force pushed me down onto the ground.

Shock turned to realization as everything turned back to normal speed. Liviana's screams got louder and louder as my senses came back from the frozen, slow state I'd been in. The pain in my shoulder got more intense, and I noticed the dagger that stuck out of me. I had to help Liviana.

I took a deep breath and slowly pulled out the blade from my left shoulder. I tried to be as quiet as possible so they didn't notice me. The blade was deep in, and the pain was so intense. As I lifted the blade from my arm, I tried to think of the moment before this. How did this happen? _Why_ did this happen? What in the god's names did this ruffians want with us?

In a snap, the blade was quickly released from my wound and blood flew from the dagger to the air in a horrific way. The blood splattered onto my bard outfit, covering the lush green with the red of blood. I slowly made my way up on my feet. My eyes were locked on the bandit that had Liviana in his grasp.

The bandit was a really ugly human, his blonde hair flopped from a dumb looking leather cap that rested on his hairy head. His scraggly, long beard occasionally touched Liviana's face as she struggled to remove herself from his strong grasp. No doubt this man was going to win the battle unless I acted.

I heaved a bit, holding the dagger in my right hand, and letting my injured left arm dangle. Rage flooded fear out of my body, and I started to dash towards the blonde bandit. The others noticed my sudden movements, but they were too late. I threw myself on top of the ruffian, Liviana spinning from the sudden release of his hands. When we hit the ground, I forcefully lifted the dagger up and flung my hand sloppy to his throat. It went straight in, spurting blood everywhere. His grey eyes were filled with surprise and the sudden realization that his life was at an end.

I did the same action again, making the blood from the dagger fly all over the ground around us. At this point, tears started to flow from my eyes, and I closed them tight as I let the moist droplets fall from my face. I stabbed him once more before being forcefully ripped of the oaf from one of his buddies. The same bandit that stabbed me in the shoulder was the one that took me away.

He spun me towards him to look at him. His blue eyes were filled with sadness for the loss of his friend. His sadness quickly turned into anger, and I saw him make a fist at his side. He quickly lifted his fist and clocked me straight in the jaw. I flew into the ground, holding my face from the pain, blood now transferred to it from my hand. I noticed the other started to run from the scene, taking our knapsack with them. My eyes darted back to the keidran that stood before me. He took his chance to strike, and his paw flew backwards and into my face. my head hit the ground, and just like that, I was knocked out.


End file.
